A young woman sits at the table waiting for her interview. She is very talented and well-skilled. She has aspired to be a top-level leader in this company. This is her chance. And few woman have been able to reach such a position in this company.
As she waits for the interview, she looks for a last bit of something to give herself confidence in the interview. It’s then that she remembers the words that she has heard over and over before: “You are enough.” “Yeah.” She thinks. I am enough. I’ve got this.
Now, this young woman is striving to follow Jesus. As a follower of Jesus, is the idea of: “I am enough” good for her to believe? On the surface, the idea can be good, as each of us is enough by how we’ve been blessed, gifted and resourced and poured into by people, schooling, opportunities, etc. Each of us are enough, but only because of the contributions of many to make us capable of taking on challenges in life. Ultimately, each of us is enough because of God’s presence and work in our lives. The danger of the idea of “I am enough” is that it can tempt any of us to believe that taking on any challenge is up to our self alone.
Like the young woman above, the temptation can be to believe that she is enough to get the position in the company that she wants. This temptation is all the more strong the further away from God that we live life. If allowed to become a dominant belief in this young woman’s life, she could soon find herself believing more in herself than in all of the realities that contributed to her being enough for such a position. Ultimately, it can lead to her believing more in herself than in God, from whom all of her blessings and education and talents are ultimately sourced.
“I am enough” sounds good. And, as mentioned earlier, it can be good - when viewed in the right context. But it has become a truth of our age that many place their belief. It is a truth among many other “good sounding” truths that people believe and place their faith – displacing God in the process. Some of those “truths” include the following (as adapted from Alisa Childer’s book, Live Your Truth).
The first group of “truths” revolve around a belief in “me first.” These include the “I am enough” “truth.” But it also includes “truths” like: “live your truth (live whatever seems right to you)” and “put yourself first.” Another group of “truths” revolves around our avoidance of the reality of death, or the temptation to get the most out of life before we die. These “truths” include: “authenticity is everything” and “you only live once (YOLO)” and “do what makes you happy.” Finally, there is a group of “truths” that revolve around the distortion of actually true realities. These “truths” include: “you shouldn’t judge (that judgment of any kind is never needed)” and “you’re the boss of you (that there is no such thing as objective truth)” and “love means agreeing (that love is incompatible with disagreement).”
Belief in all of these “truths” displaces us from the truth of how God created the world. Belief in all of these “truths” displaces us from the truth of how Jesus lived and taught his followers to live. These truths displace God altogether, or disguise the truths as something lesser than what it is. Once we see these “truths” being believed by us or others around us, we can see how we aren’t so different from the people of ancient times. Our day and age may not have gods made of wood and stone. But we do have gods made of ideas and concepts; and they are just as misleading to place our faith and belief that they are what’s best for us.