Am I "Enough"?

A biblical view of self-worth.

A while ago,  I was listening to a Christian radio station on my way to work. The DJ was getting ready to sign off for the morning, and she left the broadcast with this comment to her listeners:

“Remember, you are worthy, you are beautiful, and you are enough.”

That was it. That was her parting thought, and my first thought was, “well, that’s kind of a nice thought, isn’t it…”

But the more I thought about it, the more it struck me as an odd thing for one believer to say to another. Now I could hear a believer saying those things about Jesus! Jesus, you are worthy, you are beautiful, and you are enough! That would be a true and right thing to say! But about me?

Even more recently, someone I would call a celebrity pastor tweeted out, “you already are enough.” To which I responded, I am? Is this idea biblical? Is it missing the proper context? Do I just suffer from poor self-esteem? Possibly. But here’s the message I see in scripture.

Am I worthy?

Well, typically, the worth of something is determined by what you would pay for it. So yes, we are valuable because of the price Jesus paid for us. But let’s qualify that for a moment. The price that Jesus paid for us is a picture of His goodness, His kindness, and His love and not my worthiness. I do not deserve to be rescued and have Jesus pay for me with His life. Romans 5 describes us as “ungodly” (5:6), “sinners” (5:8), and even “enemies”(5:10) when Jesus came and died for us! Our salvation is a costly gift we do not deserve! Let me put it this way for the dog people out there—we are not the winning purebred in Purina’s annual dog show—we are the mutt with matted hair and a grumpy disposition. And so the price Jesus paid for me should always redirect me to His goodness. Songwriters Keith and Kristyn Getty say it this way in a song “two wonders here that I confess, my worth and my unworthiness.”[1]

Let’s move on to beauty.

Doesn’t scripture say that I’m created in the image of God? (Genesis 1:27) Doesn’t it say that I am “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:13)? God’s handiwork!? (Ephesians 2:10)

Yes. But when we look at each of those verses, who is emphasized? I’ll give you a hint—it’s not actually us. Being created in God’s image means I get to reflect His beauty! The Psalmist says I praise YOU because I am fearfully and wonderfully made, YOUR works are wonderful. Paul says I am God’s handiwork created in Christ Jesus to do good works. Do you see where the true focus is here? It’s not on us. It’s on the beauty of the God who made us and died to save us.

Finally, let’s look at “enough-ness.” That’s not a word, but I’m going with it.

Let me put it to you straight. I am not already enough. I have never been enough. And I never will be enough…on my own. Saying or tweeting that “you are enough” doesn’t give us the most important part of the message! That Jesus is enough! At best, it’s a vague thing to say, and at worst, it’s misleading. It’s true of us only because it is true of Jesus, and it cannot be removed or separated from our union with Him.

2 Corinthians 12:10 says that I should not delight in my enough-ness, but my weaknesses! Why? So that Christ’s power may rest on me!

The answer to my self-doubt isn’t to simply believe in myself; it’s to believe in the work of Jesus, and believe that when the Father looks at me, He now sees the perfection of Jesus and not my imperfection.

The answer to my insecurities isn’t to say, “I should be secure in what I already am”; it’s to stand securely in the work that Jesus has done for me and is doing in me!

So in closing this up, I think Galatians 6:14 might sum this up the best for me. It says, “Far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” I think this is about more than just giving context to these statements about our worth, our beauty, our enoughness. I think it’s about totally redirecting our focus off of ourselves and onto Jesus.

It is Jesus who gets every ounce of the glory here. I will gladly share my insufficiencies with you so that you may know the sufficient grace of God.

I hope this was helpful and encouraging to you! If you want to know the next time we put out content like this, you should definitely subscribe to our mailing list!
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[1] (2014). My Worth Is Not In What I Own, Keith Getty, Kristyn Getty, and Graham Kendrick