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By Elizabeth Prata
"Girl, you are enough."
"Girl, you are beautiful."
"Girl, you're a princess."
"Girl, you're fine just the way you are."
I suppose it was inevitable. The Jesus is my boyfriend trend naturally morphs into the "I am a beautiful princess of God and I'm enough" trend. Browse Pinterest on the 'Christian' side of things and you'll see plenty of soft-filtered flowery photos with mottoes declaring these kind of statements.
Now, it's true that we are daughters of the King. Galatians 3:26, John 1:12 declare we are children of God. And taking it a step further, God is King. And further, that children of a King are Princes and Princesses. All true, as far as it goes.
But wait a minute, if we literally take the metaphor stretched that far, wouldn't men as Princes compete with THE Prince!? Yes. That's why you almost always only see women being called Princesses and not male Christians as Princes.
Doing so manipulates women in an area where many are emotionally weak and needy, which is sad.
I am reminded of a scene in Exodus. Moses had been dwelling in the wilderness of Midian for 40 years when God called Moses to his ordained task, leading the Hebrews out of Egypt. Moses had just been instructed to remove his shoes at the Burning Bush because he was standing on holy ground. He is having a conversation with God. God told Moses he must speak to Pharaoh to let the Hebrews go.
Moses asked couple of questions which could be called legitimate. But as chapter 3 rolls into chapter 4 he crossed a line from earnest questioning to not-so-thinly disguised objections. By the time we read the conversation in chapter 4 verse 10, Moses has argued he is inadequate to the task. He is supposed to speak for God to Pharaoh but is 'slow of speech,' he complained.
Then Moses said to the LORD, Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.
In the "Girl, you're enough, you magnificent princess" world, we would see scripture reassuring Moses that indeed he IS enough, right? We'd see God cooing over Moses, telling him, 'Guy, don't you know you are enough? You're my Prince, my love, my cherished bouquet in the garden of God."
Moses's objections would be met with a thousand assurances six ways to Sunday of all the good things Moses is. God would assure Moses that he was...enough. Wouldn't He?
But that didn't happen. What happened was, God essentially said, 'You're NOT enough, Moses. You're inadequate to the task. But I AM adequate. I AM enough. So get to it.'
The LORD said to him, "Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes him mute or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the LORD? (Exodus 4:10-11).
The problem with the 'you're enough' trend is that it downplays our weaknesses and dismisses God's power to perfect us in our weakness.
And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. (2 Corinthians 12:)
Moses wasn't enough. And God considered Him a friend, and spoke to Moses face-to-face! (Exodus 33:11). But we are NOT enough. That is as it should be. The wider the gap in our abilities for the task, the more we praise God that He fills that gap with his strength, His power, His abilities.
If we were enough, we would be God.
"Girl, you are enough."
"Girl, you are beautiful."
"Girl, you're a princess."
"Girl, you're fine just the way you are."
I suppose it was inevitable. The Jesus is my boyfriend trend naturally morphs into the "I am a beautiful princess of God and I'm enough" trend. Browse Pinterest on the 'Christian' side of things and you'll see plenty of soft-filtered flowery photos with mottoes declaring these kind of statements.
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| Lower right by Madison K. Smith |
Now, it's true that we are daughters of the King. Galatians 3:26, John 1:12 declare we are children of God. And taking it a step further, God is King. And further, that children of a King are Princes and Princesses. All true, as far as it goes.
But wait a minute, if we literally take the metaphor stretched that far, wouldn't men as Princes compete with THE Prince!? Yes. That's why you almost always only see women being called Princesses and not male Christians as Princes.
Doing so manipulates women in an area where many are emotionally weak and needy, which is sad.
I am reminded of a scene in Exodus. Moses had been dwelling in the wilderness of Midian for 40 years when God called Moses to his ordained task, leading the Hebrews out of Egypt. Moses had just been instructed to remove his shoes at the Burning Bush because he was standing on holy ground. He is having a conversation with God. God told Moses he must speak to Pharaoh to let the Hebrews go.
Moses asked couple of questions which could be called legitimate. But as chapter 3 rolls into chapter 4 he crossed a line from earnest questioning to not-so-thinly disguised objections. By the time we read the conversation in chapter 4 verse 10, Moses has argued he is inadequate to the task. He is supposed to speak for God to Pharaoh but is 'slow of speech,' he complained.
Then Moses said to the LORD, Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.
In the "Girl, you're enough, you magnificent princess" world, we would see scripture reassuring Moses that indeed he IS enough, right? We'd see God cooing over Moses, telling him, 'Guy, don't you know you are enough? You're my Prince, my love, my cherished bouquet in the garden of God."
Moses's objections would be met with a thousand assurances six ways to Sunday of all the good things Moses is. God would assure Moses that he was...enough. Wouldn't He?
But that didn't happen. What happened was, God essentially said, 'You're NOT enough, Moses. You're inadequate to the task. But I AM adequate. I AM enough. So get to it.'
The LORD said to him, "Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes him mute or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the LORD? (Exodus 4:10-11).
The problem with the 'you're enough' trend is that it downplays our weaknesses and dismisses God's power to perfect us in our weakness.
And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. (2 Corinthians 12:)
Moses wasn't enough. And God considered Him a friend, and spoke to Moses face-to-face! (Exodus 33:11). But we are NOT enough. That is as it should be. The wider the gap in our abilities for the task, the more we praise God that He fills that gap with his strength, His power, His abilities.
If we were enough, we would be God.
Amen!
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