I’m Not Good Enough — Morning Devotions

By Chris WittsTuesday 5 Apr 2022Morning Devotions with Chris WittsFaithReading Time: 1 minute

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Nick Vujicic is a remarkable man – born without arms and legs. You may have seen him on TV or read about him. He lets nothing defeat him and lives a full life. Here’s what he said one day:

If we went by the world’s definition of who I’m supposed to be because I look weird. “Well, surely, this guy can’t have a productive life, surely, he doesn’t have a sense of humour. Surely, he can’t love life.” We stereotype people in this world. And so, if the world thinks you’re not good enough, it’s a lie, you know. Get a second opinion.

He makes a great deal of sense – especially if you feel you’re not good enough. And many of us do feel like that:

• I’m not a good enough dad. No matter how hard I try, I feel inadequate.
• I’ll never be a good enough husband. My best just isn’t good enough.
• No matter how much effort I put into it, I just don’t feel like I’ll ever be good enough as a valued member of my community.

These are typical comments – so real. You may have said them yourself, or heard others say them.

Look above past failures

I think there is a problem here – many of us believe that our worth is based on what others say about us. Do you worry what others say about you? You know the story. Some of us may have grown up in a home where we got a lot of encouragement and we felt good about ourselves. Others here may have grown up hearing: You’re stupid and you believed it. Or You’re no good and you believed it. Or You’re pathetic. I wish you were more like your brother or you’re nothing like your sister. Or another horrible one is I wish I never had you.

On and on it goes. And, you heard that so often that you started thinking, You know what, maybe I am not that good. When someone says something good about you, you feel good about yourself. But when someone cuts you down, you feel like the biggest loser that’s ever lived. Know the feeling?

Maybe you made some mistakes in your past and you think: I did something stupid and I just can’t forgive myself for what I did. I am of no worth to anybody. Isn’t it sad when we can’t forgive ourselves for what we have done? Mark Batterson in his book Wild Goose Chase says: “We become so fixated on past mistakes that we forfeit future opportunities. We mistakenly think our mistakes disqualify us from being used by God.”

And here lies the difference – as a Christian, you can look above the past failures. There are many people who have disqualified themselves from serving God – they think that they are not good enough because of something they did in their past. And that colours why they say I’m not good enough – and I’ll never amount to anything. Don’t believe it because it’s a lie.

Let God’s truth renew your mind

We need to remember that we get our worth and value from what God says about us!

We are not who others say we are, and we are not the sum total of our past experiences. We are who God says we are—this is where we are to find our worth and our value! We get our worth and value from what God says about us! So, whenever the lie comes up – I’m not good enough. I’m inadequate –we have to replace it with truth. The Bible says in 1 Peter 5:7, “God cares for you, so turn all your worries over to him”. And that includes how you feel about yourself.

Here’s the bottom line: When we come to Christ, our old nature dies. It’s gone. We have a new heart and a new spirit. We are a new creation but just because we are spiritually new doesn’t mean that the old memories of who we used to be just automatically go away. We are often haunted by those negative tapes that continue to run in our mind. That’s why we need to capture those lies and let God’s truth renew our minds. When we do this we will begin to believe what God says about us.

In 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 we read: “…You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price…” We are valuable because we belong to God. We were bought at a price – a very high price. The image here of being ‘bought with a price’ comes from the days of buying slaves. The slaves were put in the market to be sold and then people would buy them for the agreed upon price.

Our price, the cost of purchasing us, was Jesus Christ. No-one has any business telling you You’re a nobody. God made you and redeemed you through Jesus Christ. You can feel good about yourself, because you belong to him.