For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me.
What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?
Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
Romans 7:22-25
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There is an Internet adage that makes me cringe every time I hear it.
“I am enough.”
On one level, I can understand it. I mean, I’ve spent the last 14 years of my life hoping to convince people that the world will never satisfy—that you don’t need the newest gadget, fashion, or purchase to complete you. Though society will tell you to chase more and more in order to live a better life, their trinkets are only distractions.
So in some ways, I get it.
But on a deeper level, I can’t help but think those words and that message are the very antithesis to the truth of Christianity. And the more I hear it, the more I want to speak out against it.
The story of the Gospel, after all, is that we are NOT enough.
In and of ourselves, we fall short, always.
We have all fallen short of the glory of God.
This is why we need Jesus!
If “I am enough,” God would not have needed to send his Son to suffer and die on the cross.
We are NOT enough and are all in need of a Savior—and only through faith and trust in the name of Jesus can we find it.
The subsequent conversation to that statement above quickly becomes, “Well, ‘I am enough’ isn’t about salvation. It’s about accepting who I am.
‘I am enough’ means to accept your flaws whole-heartedly. When you know you are enough, you can finally be at peace with your flaws, imperfections, and mistakes.”
(This is the first Google result for the meaning of ‘I am enough.’)
But even in this understanding of the phrase we run into troubles.
Christ has not called us to accept our flaws or be at peace with our imperfections and mistakes.
Just the opposite, God calls us to wage war against our imperfections.
As Paul wrote:
Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am!
Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Romans 7)
God’s invitation on our life is not to settle for “I am enough.”
God’s invitation is to be conformed to the image of His Son. (Romans 8:29)
In that pursuit and in my being, I am not enough. God has called both you and me to more—and better.
And because we are unable to accomplish that on our own (because we are not enough), He has given us His Holy Spirit to accomplish that work in us.
Thanks be to Him. For by myself, I am not enough and never will be.
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Prayer
Thank you for the amazing truth that while I was still a sinner, you loved me and gave your Son for me. May the reality of your love and grace motivate me to pursue righteousness and holiness. May I always know that in myself, I am not enough. But through you, and you alone, I have all I need. Amen.