The single most paralyzing thought doubles as the single most effective weapon for Satan. While the thought may be identical, the attempts to neutralize the sting of this reality vary widely. Telling yourself the truth is always a great place to start addressing the realities of life even when the realities seem too painful to confront. The problem for most of us isn’t the truth but instead what masquerades as truth when we are faced with the harsh reality that each one of us is not good enough.

Each of us creates a narrative that…

…best addresses our shortcomings so that we can somehow continue on in light or in spite of our obvious deficiencies.

For some, accepting that they are less than ideal because they are human, provides them a way to face the reality that they, like everyone else, fail.

Others see their shortcomings in terms of those around them and conclude that they are better than enough people to deem themselves acceptable to most.

Still others see themselves as complete failures unable to be more that what they are, taking comfort in the fact they cannot be more so why try.

On the other end of the scale there are those who see themselves as always right even when they are wrong. Any shortcoming is a fault of others as they do not make mistakes but instead assign any error on their part as the result of the actions of others.

It is tough to come to grips with not being good enough.

It is tough to define what not being good enough means. It is the work of the evil one that has us focussing on not being good enough and the outcome of our flawed nature to try to address our less than perfect life with a truth that is based solely on how we cope with our inability to be perfect. Satan loves to torment the Christ follower with the truth but only gains ground when that truth is viewed through his lens. What if we looked at life through the lens of God’s truth, the reality of who we are and God’s desire for us as His children?

God has had a singular theme…

…throughout history when it comes to His creation. God has sought to restore relationship with mankind even though He is perfect and we are not. It would be wrong to assume that He needs us, that all His actions are to fill a void in His existence. The best way to understand God in our limited capacity is to see God though the Holy Spirit inspired words of John: “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” (1 John 4:9-11 NIV)

Telling yourself the truth is always a great place to start addressing the realities of life even when the realities seem too painful to confront. As Satan tries to paralyze you with thoughts of your own greatness or your woeful inadequacy, speak truth into your life, real truth, ‘God loves me based on His perfection not based on me’. Then put this into action and love your brother. If each day you strive to be better than the person you were the day before, to love God and your brother in a way that builds on the successes and tears down the failures of the past, Satan will have no foothold.