When Our Best Efforts Are Not Good Enough


As a wife and mother, I really don’t like the times I have to admit that my best isn’t good enough. In fact, I wonder how often I really do admit it because as I think about it, it seems like I keep trying an awful lot. That’s our reality though, isn’t it? Don’t quit. Keep trying. Work harder.

Don’t get me wrong—I’m not for giving up after one half-hearted attempt. I believe that we can’t succeed if we don’t bother to try. And we definitely learn a lot from the mistakes we make.

But sometimes…our best efforts are simply not good enough.

We can live in guilt and regret over this fact, or we can accept it. I accept it for others without smothering them with a guilt trip. I suspect you do to. We extend grace.

But grace for ourselves seems to be so much harder. So, we keep trying. We work harder. We keep beating ourselves up.

And yet, our best efforts still will not be good enough.

It sounds depressing, but it’s not—it’s freeing.

Because God extends to us His grace—His free and unearned favor proffered to us.

Where we are not enough, He is more than enough. Always. (<==Click to tweet.)

Our determination, strength, energy, and hard work will never be enough to restore our relationship with God—and we don’t have to—because God already has.
God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. Ephesians 2:8-10 NLT
God offered the sacrifice we could never offer. He did the work we cannot possibly do.

He gives us grace.

And through God’s grace, we are able to extend grace to others—and ourselves.

Grace is freedom.

Freedom to no longer live in guilt and shame.

Freedom to accept that while our efforts are not enough, God’s grace is more than enough.

Freedom to stop trying to do—and live in what’s already been done.

Freedom to breathe a sigh of thankful relief and live in His grace.

In Christ,
Laura

[This post also be read in its entirety at Gloria Dei / Photo credit: Stock photo: Alone by lake]

6 comments:

  1. "Where we are not enough, He is more than enough. Always." This is so true and He has proven it over and over again in my life. Wonderful reminder. :) I'm stopping by from #GiveMeGrace.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AMEN! Good read for my heart today.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thank you Laura! I needed this today. I have a not enough part of life that has been hurting again. Thanks for reminding me that even that is covered by His grace. Blessings to you!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Love this, Laura! We are neighbors today, over at Jennifers... where we are always reminded that we are #Preapproved...and made Good Enough through Him! It really does free us from, as Emily Freeman puts it, the Try Hard Life!

    ReplyDelete
  5. You said it, girl. We aren't called to be everything to everybody-- we aren't enough and that is ok. Because Jesus' grace fills the gaps. Thanks for this encouragement today!

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for sharing your thoughts!

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.