You’re Not Enough and That’s Okay

One of my favorite books I read this year is by writer, podcaster, and political commentator, Allie Beth Stuckey. What I love about her is that she tackles charged political and cultural topics with sound logic, emotional temperament, and always, always biblical support for why she believes what she believes. Her first book, You're Not Enough (& That's Okay): Escaping the Toxic Culture of Self-Love, she takes a look at five of the self-love mantra’s we’re sold by social media culture. She graciously credits where their good intentions began, but more importantly, exposes where they’re not just void of the gospel gift of grace, but actually contradict it!

The underlying belief in the message, “You are enough (on your own),” is that “Jesus doesn’t matter.”

Can he bring comfort in hardship and guide us toward moral living? Sure. But is his life, death, and resurrection the only thing that makes us righteous, or “enough,” in the eyes of God? Nah, I’m pretty good on my own. Do you see where this can get dangerous?

Jesus tells a story in Luke 18 about 2 men who come to the temple to pray. One of the men, the Pharisee, who was an esteemed Jewish religious leader, committed his life to upholding morality. He presumably obeyed the Moasic law more diligently than most all other citizens. But Jesus is less than impressed by his entitled, self-righteous attitude:

“The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get’” (Luke 18:11-12).

Rather, Jesus tells his followers, if you love me, pray like the tax collector:

“But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’” (Luke 18:13). 

On paper, the Pharisee had done everything right in order to be enough in the eyes of God. But he was so full of his own self-praise, he hardly had any left for the Lord. On the other hand, the tax collector, who was seen as an immoral traitor by the Jewish people, was desperate. He knew God was his only chance to ever be enough and he called out for mercy he knew he couldn’t earn.

He knew he wasn’t enough, and that was okay because he believed God was. Jesus is more than enough; he lived a perfect life because he knew even on our best, best days, we won’t. This isn’t to say, diminish your successes and the gifts, talents, and treasures God has entrusted to you. But simply to say, self-reliance, self-righteousness, and self-love will never pull you closer to God. They will never deliver if you cast your bets on them bringing you lasting peace. Seeking your worth in yourself will always fall short, a self-constructed house of cards. 

The key to contentment, peace, and ultimately feeling like and being enough (for yourself, for your people, and to God) is admitting it’s not on you. It’s all on Jesus, and it takes humility to remember that and speak it aloud each day.

Humility isn’t about diminishing yourself; it’s about relying on Jesus’s perfect, divinity rather than your own determination.

C.S. Lewis describes humility “not as thinking less of yourself, but as thinking of yourself less.” Admitting we’re not enough without Christ isn’t an admission of defeat. It is the ultimate exhale as we take our burdens off of ourselves and put them onto Jesus, the One who lived and died to carry them for us all along. 

Where in your life do you feel far from being enough? What would it take to say, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner. And remind me, you don’t expect me to be enough, and that’s okay”?