Am I Good Enough?
“Through no merit of ours but my His mercy, we have been restored to a right relationship with God through the life, death, and resurrection of His beloved Son. This is the good news, the gospel of grace.” Brennen Manning
Last November we completed six weeks of our Foundation of Hope theological training with our partner in Kenya, Rift Valley Fellowship. Our hope for this training has always been that we would serve the indigenous church to help raise up leaders who would be able to share the good news of the gospel.
Sixteen pastors and church leaders graduated after completing all six weeks of the training over three years. RVF will restart the series this year so that those who missed weeks or started late will be able to receive their certificates in the future. A comment from one of our students made at the end of week two of our time together has stuck with me.
During the second week of the training we discuss how to teach and preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ and talk a lot about God’s grace. A young woman in the class was previously ensnared in prostitution but was able to leave that life behind and begin serving in the Women of Courage ministry at RVF.
At the end of that week she stood up and said, “Before this week I never believed that I could be good enough for Jesus.”
The truth is that this is really a doubt many of us have also. We try to figure out what it is we need to do to earn God’s favor. Most religions teach that you must lead a life filled with works to earn merit with God. But this is not the case, as the Apostle Paul reminds us, “by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.” (Ephesians 2:8)
This week I hope you will remember the young woman from Kenya and pray that she will reach others with the good news of the Gospel. Also, that you would be reminded that if you have placed your faith in Jesus, and put on his righteousness, you are good enough!