You’re Good Enough

Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love.

“Why do you always say that?” Miranda asked, nodding toward the message Gwen had just finished scrawling in her yearbook.

Confused, Gwen glanced back at the words she had hastily written before their first-hour class began. It was a typical end-of-the-year, I’ll-miss-you message, but at the end she had tacked on the words: “Thanks for putting up with me!”

Mystified, Gwen looked back at Miranda, unsure what the problem was.

“I don’t sit next to you because I have to,” Miranda said quietly. “I sit here because I want to.”

Gwen was stunned. She had meant the comment as a joke, but maybe there was some truth to her own words. After all, although the two girls had been sitting next to each other in choir for a few years and Gwen considered them friends, they weren’t very close. Did she really think Miranda—and her other friends, for that matter—were just “putting up with her”?

It’s easy to compare ourselves with others—even our friends—and wonder if we’re “good enough.” Other girls seem smarter, prettier, more popular, more confident, better at sports or school, or more natural-born leaders than we’ll ever be. Instead of recognizing the qualities others admire in us, we focus on areas where we struggle. Often, the root of the worry we feel is fear. It’s normal to be worried or afraid every once in a while, but we can combat our fears by seeing ourselves through God’s eyes—and the way he sees us is wildly different from the way our culture does. The Bible says perfect love casts out fear. When we replace our fears with the recognition of God’s perfect love for us, we can be confident in who we are and—in turn—we can be confident in who God made us to be.

Things to Think About

• Have you ever felt like you needed to prove yourself to a friend or act a certain way so that someone would like you? What made you feel that way?
• How can you respond in a positive way to fear or insecurity?

DAILY ACT OF FRIENDSHIP

Pray that God would show you how to see yourself the same way he sees you—as worthy of love and friendship. List three things that make you uniquely you.