Good Enough

The question is: am I good enough? The answer is: good enough for what?
The answer to the first question “good enough for what”, which is another question itself, is really the question that needs to be asked because it will ultimately reveal how you view yourself and how you come to that determination. The basic simple answer is that you are not good enough. You are not good enough at anything, nobody is. Once we think ourselves good enough, we begin to “settle for” rather than “go for”. We become complacent and that leads to a nonproductive life. And, it is habit forming, meaning that you will begin to find a decline in all aspects of your life if not brought under control. Perhaps the question of good enough really speaks to you as a person. We are creatures that need to be accepted, loved, respected, and so we want to think of ourselves as “good people”. As a means of answering this question, this need, many people like to gage themselves by how good they think they are. And, when they aren’t sure (which is most of the time) they measure themselves against someone else. The problem with that is you can measure yourself against a criminal and appear to be much better than he, or you can measure yourself against an accomplished person and feel useless. You can also ask yourself questions like, who says that being successful makes him good, or being a criminal makes him bad? Who wrote these ground rules and, why do they seem to change over time? is there not an un-changing standard, a go to principle that I can count on, teach my kids and know that it will still be of value when they teach their kids? Now, that is the right question and I’m glad you asked.
The idea of right vs. wrong, good vs. bad, truth vs. lies, and life-long principles vs. progressive idealism, is a real battle in our day. In fact, it has been a battle since the fall of man (man’s inherent sin nature). And as always: right, good, truth, and life-long principles are from God and can be found in His love letter to mankind, The Bible. What I’m saying is that if you want to know if something is right, good, true, and a solid principle to live by, go to the source.
With respect to the original question of “am I good enough?” the answer is found throughout scripture (the Bible). In the book of Romans ch.3 verse 23, the Apostle Paul writes: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. This means that in God’s eyes, we are not good enough. That is because He is without sin and cannot invite our sinful lives to live among Him. The good news of course is that because He is love and desires to live in relationship with His creation, He has given us a way to be reconciled of this sin. The way is Jesus. Recognize your sin and accept the atonement of it through the death of Jesus on the cross in substitution for your sin. This is God’s gift, a way out.
In closing, when you feel the need to ask yourself the question: “am I good enough?” The answer should always be measured against how God views it. He wrote the rules, He created us, He is the one with the eternal plan, He is the source of life and life everlasting. He is the only un-changing source of truth that you can count on. You are good enough to be reconciled to Him only by the gift of Jesus. And not by what you do, but by what Jesus has done. And, it is GOOD enough.