To believe we are anything less than His beloved is to deny the work Jesus finished on the cross. I do not want to do that, but I do everyday when I feel or say I am not enough. Jesus is enough in our place. He is our worthiness. He is our righteousness. He is our adequacy. Our work is to believe and live in the freedom of His gift. That is hard work, but entirely possible when we are spiritually healthy! Counter every negative thought today with, I am His beloved. You are loved, friend.
Tag: adequacy
Working Harder is a Lie
Are you trying hard? Maybe you are trying to be better, be happier, be a better parent, spouse or friend? Are you exhausting yourself working to figure it all out? I often forget that I am inadequate and not in control! I can get myself so spun up trying to figure circumstances out.
There is good news for people like me, and maybe you. The notion that trying harder will get us where we want to be or bring clarity to problems is a lie from the enemy that we frequently feed ourselves. Trying harder is based on our sufficiency and strength. If I am the best I have, I am in trouble.
We were not created to figure life out. Jesus controls when or if we find out. Working harder does not make you happier, a better person a better (fill in the blank).
The secret is not in striving but surrendering.
The Life Is Not the Last Chapter
I am as inadequate to the world as the world is to me, and when we learn that is as it was designed to be, that is GRACE.
Thankfully this life is not the last chapter. As it is now is not how it will end. For those who have resigned to their insufficiency and submitted to belief in a sufficient God the story ends differently. Our temporary life concludes with an abolishment of pain, suffering, evil, fighting and discontent. These things, the broken things, are all around us and seemingly more prolific every day.
Life isn’t fair, and on the surface of many circumstances God seems an unjust God. That is the treasure of the Bible, however. God’s word warns us of it all, injustices of every kind. Just as we have been apprised of the tragedies of this life so have we been promised a great trust in the next.
The last chapter is ironically the beginning. The beginning of a life free from a world imbued with pain and suffering. We have this great hope, friends. By grace for all those who have believed through faith and not of our own adequacy, (Ephesians 2:8), the crown is ours.
The story has a beautiful ending free of tears and tragedies. The story ends with a new beginning. A beginning that has no ending and cast amidst perfect peace and triumphant joy. Our hope is not here in this frail and fleeting place. For that, we may all rejoice!
It’s the Eternal
All things not eternal are eternally out of date. ~C.S. Lewis
Meditating on this allows me to take an inventory of my life and let a lot go! We can leave the comparisons, accomplishments, victories, defeats, credentials, resumes, mistakes, losses and so on behind. A performance mentality leads to a worn out mentality. There is no reciprocity between here and Heaven except for a surrendered and repentant heart. Our acceptance of our inadequacy qualifies us more than our adequacy ever will. Allow that to make life lighter today.