In A World That Demands Performance, Discover The Peace Of Resting In Your Identity In Christ
Do you feel like you can’t measure up? Are you constantly striving but feel like you are not good enough? No matter what goal we set, the bar always rises. We spin our wheels and still can’t reach a point where we can rest.
Maybe you are afraid of falling short, so you do all you can to set yourself up for success. Or maybe there’s fear from the fickle fans who cheer you on one day and turn on you the next. Or signing with a program that promises a long tenure but backtracks at the sight of one sub-par season.
The ways of this world will leave us constantly in a state of confusion, trying to earn our spot and seeking to stay relevant.
Relevance fades throughout time, but what is eternal stands forever. If we look to God, we see He created everything out of love. That includes us.
“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, the whole earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.’ So God created man in his own image; he created him in the image of God; he created them male and female.” — Genesis 1:26-27.
God formed us intricately. Deliberately. With great craftsmanship and intent.
“For it was you who created my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.I will praise you because I have been remarkably and wondrously made. Your works are wondrous, and I know this very well. My bones were not hidden from you when I was made in secret, when I was formed in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw me when I was formless; all my days were written in your book and planned before a single one of them began.” — Psalm 139:13-16.
Loving eyes watched over us from the start; we already had value before we took a breath. It’s not about doing or being enough. It’s about who you are and whose you are.
Your identity is everything — and your identity is securely rooted in the love of God your Father through Jesus Christ.
“But to all who did receive him, he gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born, not of natural descent, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God.” — John 1:12-13.
You are already wonderfully made, seen and cherished. There is nothing you can do to earn a better status or make yourself feel useful. You cannot earn God’s approval; you already have it when you receive Jesus as the One who paid the penalty for sin and gave us right standing with God.
“For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” — John 3:16.
For God so loved the world — that’s you and me — that He couldn’t stand to see us separated from Him, so He sent His perfect Son to shed His blood and give us the life we couldn’t earn on our own.
Because of Jesus, we get the gift of life forever with our Father. We can live confidently in this truth, with joy in our hearts and an assurance that our God calls us good.
We are enough in Jesus.
God made us uniquely and intimately. Nothing was overlooked when He fashioned us together. He knew how we’d look, the things we’d like, the way we’d be filled with compassion, justice or encouragement.
When comparison comes around, remind yourself of the truth that you are God’s beloved child, and He loves you immensely, so much that He gave His Son to bring you into His family.
The world may say one thing, but what God says is ultimate. We don’t need to strive to be enough. We don’t need to strive at all.
Jesus has proven Himself worthy and the answer to God’s love. Let’s rest in this today, receive the love and care God longs to shower on us, and find freedom in the fact that there is nothing we need to do. God already goes before us and works on our behalf. We are His children, and when He looks at us, He sees His wonderful design.
Jesus is everything; He did everything for us, and as we receive His love and work on the cross, we live in a newfound freedom where we don’t have to keep up with anyone. In Jesus, you are already enough.
