Are you perfect?

"You're enough! You don't have to be perfect."

The words are all over the place today. You hear them in podcasts, from the pulpit, and in everyday conversation from well-meaning friends. They are feel-good words, the type that make us feel better about ourselves. People tell us to stop the "negative self-talk" and focus on all the good. And while there's some truth in that, those words irk me.

Because, you see, if I'm enough, then what was the point of the cross? If I, in all my humanity, am enough, then I don't need a Savior.

And if we don't have to be perfect, then what do we do with Jesus's words in the Sermon on the Mount:

"But you are called to something higher:

Be perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect."

Matthew 5:48 (Voice)

His words, calling us to be perfect. They aren't easy words to swallow because they mean that we can't just keep doing what we've always done. We can't keep living in the sins that make us so comfortable. When we are God's children, we are called to emulate Him--and that means perfection. These words come after Jesus was talking about fulfilling the Law. He was telling people that just following the letter of the law wasn't enough--He extended the commandments to encompass even more:

~"Don't murder" became "don't even be angry with your brother"

~"Don't commit adultery" became "pluck out your eye if you even look at someone with lust in your heart"

~"Divorce fairly" became "if you get a divorce and remarry, that's adultery"

~"Keep your promises" became "don't ever swear an oath, because you don't have anything to swear by"

~"An eye for an eye" became "turn the other cheek"

~"Love your neighbor" became "love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you"

You aren't enough. That's the truth that's sometimes hard to swallow. Or at least, I know it's hard for me to swallow. I pride myself on being enough. I want to be able to do everything on my own, and I want to do it to the highest possible quality (unless we're talking about housework, but that's a different story...). I want my life to be enough. To be more than enough, actually. I want to make a difference.

But the truth? The truth is that I can never be enough because I can never be perfect. But the rest of the truth is that God knew I couldn't ever be enough, so He made a way for me. He sent His Son, the only perfect one, to live up to what I never could, and then die in my place.

I'm not enough.

But He always is.