Anyone else experience that awkward moment when you are singing along with Christian radio or a worship song at church and stop in the middle, thinking ‘wait; that’s not right!?’

Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t think the cross has made me flawless. I’m forgiven, sure, but there are certainly still flaws.

Now, I love a good Christian song, inspirational quote, and positive message (my Pinterest can bear witness to that!), but sometimes I find myself questioning them. One I’ve seen and heard a lot of lately is ‘you are _____ enough.’ Two parts of these types of quotes give me pause: the focus on “you” and the “enough” at the end. Here’s an example of what I mean:

I’ll tackle the ‘strong enough’ part of this particular quote. Let’s face it – sometimes we aren’t strong enough, not on our own anyways…but that’s ok! Our weakness is where His strength shines. The Scripture doesn’t say “I can do all things” and end there. It is meaningless without remembering the “through Christ” at the end. The Bible also says the joy of the Lord is our strength. I’ve always seemed to find that people going through the hardest times are often the most joyful. I knew a lady, who even though dealing with cancer (again), was the one encouraging me.

Secondly, the addition of “enough” at the end of the expressions makes it sounds like there are levels of these qualities, but the truth is we don’t just meet the lowest, basic standard – we are all these things and MORE in Christ!

When I first started playing the keyboard at church, I didn’t feel ‘talented enough.’ I made it a comparison, and I allowed my awkwardness to get in the way. All God wanted was my willingness to use the talent He gave me. It wasn’t a matter if I was talented ‘enough’ to lead worship – it was a lesson to learn that I was blessed with a talent. Period. He gives us all gifts, and not using them out of fear or comparison would be wasteful.

The truth is, we are uniquely designed by God and have the attributes He gave us, and whatever we might lack, He makes up the difference. I know the original quote was just meant to encourage, and didn’t intend any negative connotations, but I thought I’d make my own adjustments:

Now, I must allow Him to be more to me in return. He is The I AM, not the I AM enough. He cannot just be the surprise $5 I pull out of my pocket when I’m finally ready to clean the dirty laundry. He is worth so much more than that! I’m not always successful at that, but I am so thankful that He still loves me and extends His grace to me each and every day. That far exceeds enough!