i’ll never be good enough
I often find myself more easily believing lies than the truth. I’m realizing, though, that sometimes what I consider lies are really just distorted truths. And they’re equally deadly.
I will never be good enough to please God. That’s true. But it gets twisted into something negative, when it was really intended to set me free.
The fact that I’ll never be good enough to earn His love and grace isn’t bad news. It speaks of my value, not of my lack of value. Even though I’m not good enough, He still chooses me, loves me, pursues me, uses me. There is freedom, not condemnation, in that. It speaks of how overwhelmingly unconditional His love for me is.
But the very truth that was intended to set me free gets used by the enemy—and people—to beat me down. It gets distorted and manipulated into something that tells me I need to strive for His love. It makes me feel like I have to work harder, be better, do more.
But the fact remains: I can never be good enough. That means I need to trust Him alone. It takes the pressure off me completely.
It frees me to live not for His approval but from His approval.
And that changes everything.
Extraordinairy.
@danielleH says:
Live from His approval….
Wow. We are gettin’ some great preaching at g & g.
Reading this, I felt God tap me on the shoulder and say, “This is what I have been trying to tell you all along. Come and rest in Me.”
Alece, praying 1 Thess. 5:23-25 for you this morning:
Now may the God of PEACE himself sanctify you completely…He who calls you *IS* faithful and he will surely do it (keep working in your life, sanctify you until the coming of our Lord Jesus!)…
Fantastic Post! Perfectly simple, Perfectly Powerful, and Perfectly Beautiful!
You have touched my heart!
@traceepersiko says:
you are enough. so enough friend.
“It frees me to live not for His approval but from His approval”
i have put that on a sticky note on my computer so i read it throughout the day.
very good.
@cassgirl says:
I will never be good enough to please God. That’s true. But it gets twisted into something negative, when it was really intended to set me free.
I have to remember this so often in my cloudy thought life.
I love you friend.
Prayed for you fiercely just this morning @ the beach.
thank you…
Isn’t it funny how the very freedoms we proclaim in Christ can easily lead us to bondage? Ironic, huh?
You are on the right path.
If you have a min hop over to Arms Wide Open and listen to the song at the bottom of Aarron’s post:
http://armswideopen.wordpress.com/2009/04/27/dont-quit/
xoxo,
R
@coloraturajoy says:
good word.
huh. a song that caught my ear a while back has the lyric, “if love is a raging sea, you can hold on to me… we’ll find a way tonight. love is an ocean wide.” it’s one of the few songs i’ve heard god’s voice through recently. it feels like a hug to hear it, in the middle of life-upturn and hurts.
I know you are feeling tossed about in your storm, but your recent posts have a steadiness threaded through them that is profound.
I am changed for knowing you, friend.
It’s good to see you are working to change a negative way of thinking into a postive one.
You are good enough to be loved by your God. That is as much as you can expect. Understanding that does free you.
now thats gooood girlllllllllllllllll
“It frees me to live not for His approval but from His approval.”
i like it, i like it, i like it.
can i just say i LIke you and how proud of you i am.
get it girl.
YYEESSSSSS!!!!!!
“But the fact remains: I can never be good enough. That means I need to trust Him alone. It takes the pressure off me completely.”
Honestly… I would have never seen it that way, that it takes the pressure off me completely. Kind of shakes up my brain a bit. And that’s a good thing.
shakes mine up, too.
i’m still learning!
thanks for making me smile, friend!
@danielleH says:
:) it’s kind of my mission
“oh mylanta” — i love you and your nicknames and sayings.
amen.
the joj commented!? yesssss! :)
oh friend…
your last line made my heart swell. thank you!
i love that afters song. my heart seems to soak up pretty much any song with a variation of “you’re gonna make it” or “it’ll be alright” these days.
my favorite line in the song is “i’ll stay right here, it’s where i’ll always belong, tied with your arms…” mmm…
i’m glad a steadiness is coming through. i’m sensing it.
sometimes i even feel a bit guilty, like i shouldn’t feel such freedom, such okay-ness just yet.
yet i know that’s a lie.
you’re good enough to be loved by my God, too, ed…
i like you, too, my jacey-bird.
“get it girl” makes me smile and i don’t even know why!
because you get it and I get it.
I love your blogs.
I get them, every single one.
your getting it girllllllllllll, your being forever changed and wrapped in God’s amazing love.
we both are :)