I believe every one of us, on some level, believes we are not good enough. Maybe we grew up in a family that emphasized humility and it has become so ingrained that we have bought the idea humility=self loathing. Even if this is not the case I would still wonder why depression medications and sleep aids are being prescribed at an all-time high. Granted there are people with legitimate chemical imbalances and need these medications to make it through each day. We have also become better at diagnosing depression since it has become less taboo in the medical field to talk about mental health issues. This does not mean every single person who has been diagnosed with depression all have chemical imbalances. Some people might be in a season of life that is very dark. Some may have low self-esteem from past relationship or because of family dynamics. But their depression is not caused by a chemical imbalance theirs is coming from a place of low self-worth. We try to chase those voices away with many things some mentioned earlier like prescriptions or with alcohol or illicit drug use or any number of things. We withdraw because we don’t want those closest to us to see “the true us” with all our shortcomings. This sort of thing, isolation, and self-medication leads to a furtherance of the depression. It can become a cycle that gets harder and harder to break. Our mask says we are fine but deep down we know the truth, and it is a truth we do not want others to see.

I’d be willing to bet at least once in your life you have heard voices saying, you’re not pretty enough, you’re not likable enough, your not popular enough, you’re too fat, you’re not athletic, you’re ugly, stupid, weird, or boring. People in the US are working more hours and taking less vacation than in the past. These people may believe they are lacking something and are looking to compensate for it by working all the time in order to provide what they think they are missing. Women and men work long hours to try to get ahead in their company.  It could be because they are trying to hide from the turmoil at home or from their own insecurities. either way, they bury themselves in their work hoping to prove to themselves or to their families or both that they are not insufficient. But the one thing every family needs is a stable environment for the children to grow up in. A wife’s only desire is to be with her husband. and a husband only wants the wife. Both would rather have fewer things and stuff and money if it meant more of the person they love. Children want their parents. They do not want a father to come home too tired to play with them. They would rather have their parents than a vacation or new toys.  Children grow up without ever realizing they went without. They have no concept of money and vacations but they do remember daddy or mommy not being home. Americans tend to bury themselves in their work for many reasons but I would contend that the biggest one is to escape the perceived realities of their own inadequacies.

One thought and I’ll move on. Why do we buy Christmas or Birthday gifts? Because it is what we do as a society. What would happen if one Christmas we did not do that? We just enjoy the company we have with each other. Not to sound cliche but do we truly believe that our presence is the present? I am not saying that as a way to help your head swell with pride. That you are so important people should just be happy with you being around. This idea needs to drenched with humility, and I do not mean “woe is me” kind of humility. Just a true understanding of who you are and honestly enjoying the company of those in your life.

I’d be willing to bet most people would cringe at the idea of no presents on Christmas. Why should that be? Are we saying that even though we enjoy the morning of December 25th and the people around us that we are not enough? We need to supplement this day with gifts our loved ones truly want? Granted we might enjoy being in the same room as our friends and family but we have to add a gift because “we are not good enough”. Do we play into our insecurities? “I am not good enough for you,” we tell ourselves, so we give these gifts as a way to ease our own consciences as well as give others what they truly wanted, an object and not ourselves. Because if they truly knew how defective we were, or at least what we believed about ourselves, we know they wouldn’t want us.

It could be I am reaching for things that are not there and it could be we just give gifts because we want to and truly want to find a way to show our love in a more tangible way than we have throughout the year. But is it at least true we have at some point in our lives had these self-defeating thoughts I’ve already mentioned?

Look at this in John 17 Jesus prays this, among other things, “you [Father] granted him [Jesus Christ] authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him”. Focus in on “to all those you have given him”. You know what this means? You are The Fathers gift to His Holy Son! According to the Father, the gift He gave to His Son, for His faithfulness of enduring the cross, was you! We sing things about how we lament over how Jesus gave His all for us yet we have nothing to bring to Him. But look, just coming to Jesus and having faith in Him IS His gift! What does one give someone who would lay their life down for them? What would one give someone who already has everything? What does one give someone is holy, righteous, pure, perfect, majestic, infinite, all-powerful, all-knowing, and utterly indescribable? We give Him what He has already been given since before the foundation of the world, ourselves!

Let’s take this a step further. You might see yourself as “damaged goods” But to Christ, you are the perfect gift. To the one who was perfectly holy, took on your sin, died by crucifixion, and rose again, sees you NOT as damaged goods but as the best gift His Father could have given Him! Think about it another way, what could the creator of the universe (who demands the worship from every living being, who makes whole nations to rise and fall, who exacts perfect judgment and mercy at the same time, who lacks nothing and can create anything He would ever choose to create at any minute) possibly want as a gift? He wants you! To Him, you are better than good enough. You are not ugly in fact your ugliness has been dealt with on the cross! You are made beautiful with the whitest of robes!

We should never self-determine our value because we will always see our selves lacking any real worth. Our value should be determined by the one assigning our value. The price for the gift was the Son’s life! A price Christ was willing to pay for you to be the gift. How much value can anyone assign to a gift that costs The Son His life? You can’t, you are absolutely priceless! Once we see how much we cost we will see how much we are truly valued. A bride will turn over her house searching for one coin from her dowery out of 10, a shepherd will leave 99 sheep to go find the one that was lost. How much more will our Father move in order to bring us back into His house? You are worth more than 10% of a woman’s dowery, you are worth more than 1% of the shepherd’s flock. You are worth an undignified death by the very creator of that cross! As I stated in my prior post, Jesus died for His Father’s glory. We were the benefactors of His sacrifice and are the ones to bring Him glory in a worthy manner that could only be done through the cross. You are valued to Christ, you are the only gift He will ever truly desire.

This truth ONLY applies to those who have submitted their lives to Christ. Anyone who has not, is under Jesus’ punishment, wrath, and are not included as a gift to Him. Even though you are valued, the gift you have is dirty, rotten to the core, garbage, refuse, and nauseating. Your life is not one He would want. Your treason against His majesty deserves only one outcome. By giving to God what He wants, your life, you will be set free and be placed in a right standing. Christ’s holiness will be yours and you will be free to worship God (this is your heart’s true desire) in a manner worthy of the One who demands such adoration (I did not say requests for a reason. At some point, every person who has ever lived will bow their knee. Worship of Him will be demanded from everyone! He will not tolerate worship to anyone else other than Himself and all the self-worshipping we have done in this life will be called into account and will be rectified by the bending of the knee. Worshiping God is NOT an option! WHEN you worship Him will be and that makes all the difference. Either voluntarily worship Him now and live or be forced to your knees later and die). Maybe you have not given yourself to Christ you might take away from this that your life is worthless. But this isn’t the case. Because Christ saw your worth while you were against Him and even if today you still choose to not put your faith in Him, the fact is He still saw your worth and willingly died for your ability to choose Him or not. Without His death and resurrection there is no option other than to not choose Him. All He is asking for is to give Him what was His all along the gift of you!

John 17:1-5, Luke 15, Isaiah 6:3, Rev 4:8, Ex 34:6-7, Ps 86:15, Eph 2:4-7, Zeph 3:17, John 3:36, Romans 2:5, Eph 5:6, Romans 14:11, Phil 2:10, Isaiah 45:23,