Women's Wednesdays - Will I Ever Be Good Enough?

My whole life, all I've really wanted was one thing: to be good. And no matter how hard I try to be good, and no matter how much success I have at being good, I am haunted by the notion that I am just never ever going to be good enough.

I suppose that I am not alone in feeling this way. I think that women especially feel this kind of pressure. We are never satisfied with where we are. We want to be thinner, fitter, smarter, funnier, happier, successfuller, and always getting better and better. That's how magazines work. Look at the cover of magazines sometime and see how they promote one main thing: how to be better. A better mom. A better cook. A better fashionista. A better dieter. A better kisser. A better girlfriend/wife. A better friend. Have better hair. Have better skin. Have better fun. Have a better house. Have a better car. Have a better life. It's shoved in our faces all the time: be better.

That's not the most horrible thing in the world, striving to be better.  Some people really hate being challenged to be made better.  Look at these quotes for instance:

 

But those quotes aren't biblically correct.  In fact, they are blatantly incorrect.  Jesus Himself has a thing or two to say about this topic.  He says:  

At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them.  The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group  and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery.  In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?”  They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger.  When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”  Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there.  Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
 “No one, sir,” she said.
“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.” - John 8:2-11

See what Jesus did there?  He challenged her to be better. Like I said, there's nothing wrong with trying to better oneself.  

No.  I'm not good enough.  Honestly.  I don't deserve the love that Jesus gives.  I don't deserve the love that anyone gives, actually.  That's kind of what's crazy about love:  it is undeserved.  If it was deserved, would it even be love?  

Jesus is an interesting fella, isn't He?  Let's break it apart:  he loves each of us, but none of us will ever be good enough for His love.  We will never ever deserve it.  And yet, He gives it to us freely anyway.  So, even though we don't deserve it, we get it anyway.  

I think that we (women, that is) really struggle with being good enough.  We should always be trying to be better, to "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matthew 5:48).  But, Jesus also knows that we fall.  That we fail.  That being perfect is not acheivable for us.  That's why we get confession.  We get to confess our sins and be forgiven.  Why?  Because He loves us.  Totally, completely, and perfectly.

It's difficult to accept, but it's important to try.  Maybe I won't ever be good enough, but I will be loved, and that is something to celebrate.

This week is Holy Week.  I urge you to reflect on how amazing God's love is and how, even though you've done nothing to deserve it, you get to experience it anyway.