Satan tells you that you’re good enough.
God tells you that you aren’t.
I’m gonna be honest and personal right now. okay. A huge sin that I’ve recently been struggling with is acting like I’m a good person. That isn’t exactly something you can wrap your head around… because I’m supposed to be a good person right so is there actually anything wrong with this?
YES. SO MUCH IS WRONG WITH THIS.
I act like I am a good person. I talk like I’m a good person person. And eventually I begin to believe that I am a good person. But I am definitely not good. Really, I’m just decent at building my image in front of others. I put on a “good” mask, but it just covers up the ugly underside. When I start to believe that I’m a good person I elevate my own pride, suppressing all humility. I start to deny my desperate need for my Savior. When I put myself on display instead of displaying myself as a masterpiece of His glory, I diminish the power of the cross.
Satan feeds us this lie that we are good enough. He feeds our pride, saying we got this on our own. Jesus? Who needs Jesus? That whole cross thing was a “just in case” measure. But hey don’t worry! YOU ARE GOOD. lies. There are no “just in cases.” Everyone has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. No one is righteous, not even one. There are no exceptions. No one is good enough. I need Jesus in the same depth as you. He who sins once is just as in need of a Savior and he who sins with every breath.
The truth is–how I think of myself doesn’t change the fact that I still need a Savior. Its just a mindset. When my mindset is “I got this,” i’m constantly going 300 mph trying to prove that I can do it, when in fact, I cannot. But when I know that “I don’t got this,” I can find rest. I can lay in peace knowing that I can’t do it, but He so can. I don’t have to be perfect, and I don’t have to pretend that I am perfect either. I can and will do my best, but where I fall short I won’t act like I haven’t. I know God’s grace like I know a loyal friend. It’s constant, always there even when I am not.
God will never tell us that we are good. He instead tells us that we are not good enough. No matter how hard we tried, how “good” we appeared to everyone else, we could never ever be good enough. He says you HAVE fallen short, but Jesus hasn’t. He says I KNOW you aren’t good enough, but I love you anyway. I love you so much that you don’t have to believe that you are good enough. You can rest in the fact that Jesus already was. God sees righteousness in you not because of how good you are or how good you seem. He sees righteousness in you because you simply have faith in Him. Its not about you–it never was. satan can’t tell you that anymore.
ABBY DURBIN 