More than Enough
Beneath every quest and question, every person I have ever met is trying to find out who they are and if the person that they discover is enough. Enough to be loved, enough to belong, and enough to be seen in a world where it's so easy to be lost.
The world is trying to answer this for us. There is a sea of voices giving their opinions, many of whom want to tell us who we are not. I’ve listened to many of those voices and lived oppressed by them. I’ve performed, strived, and doubted, lacking the confidence to believe I would ever have something to offer the world. But there is another voice that whispers truth if you will listen. It silences the noise of all the other voices and when I listen to it I start believing that He is real and I am who He says I am. The scriptures say it plainly that when we believe in Jesus we will be saved. He saves us from ourselves, from our desperate attempts to find an answer within. I’ve found that Jesus is the only one that can reveal us. Therefore the story of discovering myself cannot be told separate from my story of discovering Christ.
Growing up I was a strong willed and inquisitive child but struggled immensely with dyslexia. I still remember sitting with my dad crying over the pages of a book I was determined to read. It was in these years I first let Jesus find me. He seemingly required nothing from me, yet made me feel something I had never experienced before. Because of my struggle in school it was never my intellect that led me to Him, but a deep sense that when I was with Him I was truly alive. I’ve tried to figure God out, but I’ve realised that very few people can think their way into a relationship with God. Jesus said that the only path into His kingdom is the way of a child marked with simple belief and innocent trust. He isn’t an equation you can solve, but a person leading us into a life that we all desire, yet none of us deserve.
I’ve grown out of my youth, and I’m now reflecting as I begin this journey as a Youth Pastor. I’ve been thinking about how easy and tempting it has become to push God out and to start relying on my own gifts. It feels good to feel like I am in control and to impress people with what I can do. But slowly I always become weary and lifeless, and it’s then I’m reminded that I’m still that child in the hands of God. He has been the only way back to my true identity as a son. But I’m also grateful for the voices of many people; brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers. Those that always believed for me when I couldn’t.
So I write these words in hope that every one of us (young and old) can continue to be those that believe. It's our privilege to see something beautiful in souls before it’s uncovered. We must look with God’s eyes, beyond the performances and pitfalls, and see the real treasure that every person possesses. Grab teenagers, look them in the eyes and tell them they have what it takes. Tell them they aren't just enough, but they are God’s masterpiece and that they carry something extraordinary. We owe it to the generations that will rise beneath us and the ones that have gone before us to believe that we are more than enough.