Five Verses for When You Feel Not Good Enough

4-30-17

It’s something I think a lot of us think – that we’re not good enough. That we don’t deserve something or anything. It’s hard to follow a perfect God and feel like that. In a way, we aren’t good enough. We can’t mark off a checklist and say that we’ve earned grace. But still, God says we’re enough. I want to share five verses that have encouraged me when I felt insufficient.

Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins? And not one of them is forgotten before God. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. – Luke 12:6-7

Think about all the animals in the world. The birds, cats, dogs, lizards, and turtles. God sees them all. He takes the time to know them. All of them. This means we don’t have to be afraid, because He will most certainly watch out for us.

What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? – Luke 15:4

This comes from a parable Jesus told. Imagine a shepherd who has 100 sheep. They’re all grazing or laying down in the grass and minding their own business. Then one of them wanders off. Won’t he go and look for it to try to keep it out of mischief? Even though it means leaving the others behind?

See, Jesus is that shepherd. The 99 sheep who behave are like Christians who are mostly doing what they’re supposed to do. Then one goes off and gets in trouble. Jesus doesn’t say, “Oh well, I’ve got all these good people here. Let that one figure it out for himself. I’m not going to bother with him.” No, He goes and tries to find him. Even when we mess up, Jesus cares about us. He will go out of His way to actively help us.

The third verse comes from right before Jesus was crucified. He told Peter that he would deny Him. Then Jesus said:

But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren. – Luke 22:32

Imagine being one of the twelve people Jesus was closest to. His confidantes. Now you hear you are going to disappoint Him when He needs you most. That must have crushed Peter. But Jesus didn’t tell him, “And after that you’re done. Begone!” No, Jesus told Peter that He had prayed for him and still had a plan for him. The Son of God looked for a way to help someone who would come up short. Jesus knows we’ll mess up too, but that doesn’t mean He writes us off.

For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust. – Psalms 103:14

The same God watching us now is the same One who made us. He understands us. He expects that we strive for perfection, not that we achieve it.

Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
And in Your book they all were written,
The days fashioned for me,
When as yet there were none of them.

– Psalm 139:16

God has already seen everything that will happen to us. He doesn’t make our choices for us, but He knows what we will choose. Knowing that, He still decided to make the world, put us in it, and to send His Son to make up for what we couldn’t do.

Because to God, we are worth it. We are enough.

What other verses encourage you?

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Heather