The Christian Myth

“You are enough!” That’s a popular mantra among many Christians. However, the problem is that it does not come from the Bible and further demonstrates that Christians are operating with a non-biblical worldview. Why do Christians believe falsehoods like this one, and what should they believe?

We could offer several reasons why Christians might believe lies. Some are new to the faith. Others attend churches that no longer teach God’s Word. Many preachers have transformed into therapists who seek to make folks feel better instead of training them in Scripture. The words of Malachi are again relevant: “For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts. But you have turned aside from the way. You have caused many to stumble by your instruction” (Malachi 2:7-8). The church-growth movement has transformed pastors into brand ambassadors rather than “stewards of the mysteries of God” (1 Corinthians 4:1).

But there is a more straightforward reason you are inclined to believe falsehood: your heart is sick! A Christian worldview begins with a right view of self, and Scripture testifies that “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9).

You embrace lies more readily than the truth because sin pollutes you. When Adam ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he and all of us who come after him became corrupt. Like a smartphone exposed to water, our hearts and minds are broken and glitchy. The glitch is sin, and the penalty for it is death (Romans 5:12).

Your thoughts, wants, and fears are naturally sinful and offensive to God. All of this is true because the disease of sin has affected you. Therefore, Scripture can say, “None is righteous, no, not one” (Romans 3:10).

For Christians to repeat the mantra, “You are enough,” therefore, is like attending an AA meeting and hearing, “alcoholism is good for you.” Not only is it false, but the belief could kill you! Let me put it this way, if you believe you are “good enough,” your salvation is seriously in question.

It is not a Christian belief to build up the self, and we are not interested in high self-esteem. One of the effects of sin is a wrong view of self and too much self-esteem! Notice that when Jesus said, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” he did not sense the need to teach you how to love yourself.

No, the Christian worldview begins with a low view of self. We recognize that our sin has offended God, that we are under his wrath and curse from the moment of conception, and that we deserve his just judgment. With Paul, we can say, “I am the chief of sinners!” (1 Timothy 1:15). We don’t say, “I am enough!” Instead, we say, “Christ is enough!”