Good Enough?

Hook: who gets to tell you if you’re enough?

So a few days ago, I’m attending a conference. I’m walking to my seat, minding my own business, and then suddenly I hear this voice behind me:

“DARYL TAY. I’m your teacher.”

Now some context: | meet my Sec 4 chemistry teacher. And even though it’s been 20 years since I was Sec 4, I can remember that in Sec 4, I was terrible at chemistry. Like really bad. And I remember how she came down hard on me. Every week. Hard.

But here’s the thing — somehow, by some miracle, when I went into JC, I actually ended up doing really well for chem. Like, it actually became one of my best subjects.

So I’m standing there, catching up with her, being very mature, very professional… and inside I am dying. Because there is one thing I need this woman to know. Twenty years I’ve been waiting to tell her - I actually did well in chem.

So I wait for my moment. I thicken my skin. And I go — “Ma’am… you know ah, just saying I ended up getting [how many points] for chemistry.”

(pause)

She looks at me. She goes:

“Good. But more importantly — why you only have one kid ah? You know all your peers already having their third and fourth. You’re behind bro.” |

(beat)

After 20 years. I finally got to hear her say, “good”. But in the same breath, I was behind again. And standing in front of my teacher, I felt exactly what I felt at 16.

Not enough.

So here’s my question for us today. |

Who actually gets to tell you if you’re enough?

Your teacher? Your parents? Your friends? See this is a question about our worth, and whoever answers that question - is telling you a story about where your worth comes from.

These are the most common stories: |

You are what you score.

You are what your friends say or think,

You are only as good as you are useful

You are nothing more than your worst moment.

You are nothing less than your best moment.

These stories feel normal. But be honest - they’re crushing. They make our worth incredibly fragile. One bad paper. One bad game. One broken friendship. And suddenly you feel worthless.

God tells a very different story. And here’s how it began. |

The Biggest Story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAzQIA_rF1s (4 mins)

So God created by bringing order and purpose to the cosmos. |

But in God’s story: where does our worth actually come from?

(Pause point: let tweens write down big question)

Genesis one gives us three answers. Let’s take it one at a time. |

MP1: (Our worth comes) From Whose Image You Carry (v26-27)

(Pause point: let tweens write down MP1)

“Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image (tselem), in our likeness, so that they may rule…”

So national day is coming.

And before the actual parade, there are rehearsals. Many, many rehearsals. But they can’t get the President to show up for every single one. So they bring in a stand-in. |

(show picture: https://mothership.sg/2025/06/tharman-stand-in-ndp-2025-rehearsal/)

And you know, last year the stand-in kind of stole the whole show.

But here’s the thing. He got all the attention - but does he actually have authority? Can he make any decisions? Sign anything? Order anything?

Nope. He walks where he’s told. Sits when he’s told. He acts the part for two hours and then he goes home. And he’s definitely not close enough to the President to call it a relationship. |

Now go back to Genesis 1. God says, “let us make mankind in our image” (tselem) That’s the Hebrew word for image or statue. | See when ancient kings ruled land far away, they’d send a statue of themselves and set it up there. And wherever that statue stood, people treated it as if the king himself were standing there. It carried his authority. It represented him.

God put His image on this earth. And it’s not a statue - it’s you and me. |

The next word is likeness. Resemblance. Like how a son resembles a father. |

So put them together and you get the whole verse. God made you to represent Him - and to resemble Him. Authority and family.

He gave us real authority. And he wanted representatives close enough to actually know Him and reflect Him.

So you’re not a stand-in. You’re not playing a part until you prove you deserve it. God put His image on you - and that was settled before you were born. Before your first exam. Before your first competition. Before your first friendship.

But it also means something. Later when we go home. Tomorrow when we walk into school, we’re carrying God’s name. How we treat people - how we treat the world He gave us - that’s how we represent Him.

So - where does your worth come from?

Not from what you can do. From whose image you carry. |

MP2: (Our worth comes) From Being Blessed for a Big Purpose (v28-30)

(Pause point - let tweens write down MP2)

“God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it. Rule…”

Be honest, right? Who in your life rewards you before you even do anything?

Mum says, “Get a good score for PSLE. Then we’ll go for family holiday”

I tell my 3yo son, “Put on your shoes and quickly get in the car - and after church I’ll bring you to the playground.”

Work first, prize after. Prove yourself, then get rewarded.

Now look at what God does.

He blesses them first. Then He gives them the job.

Now, “blessing” here isn’t God going, “Good job! Well done!”. It’s God saying: I’m with you, I’m for you, and I’m already giving you what you need - before you’ve done a single thing.

Look at verse 29. Before Adam and Eve plant one seed, God says - I’ve given you every plant, every tree, every fruit. It’s already here.

Then comes our purpose. Rule. |

The Hebrew word is radah, and it’s a strong one. It’s the word for a king taking new territory. God is handing over real responsibility. The truth is this is not a small job. But - and this is everything - who is doing the ruling? People made in God’s image. So we rule the way He rules.

Here’s how God rules. | He takes what’s wild and messy and He orders it, so that life can grow. He brings order and purpose to the cosmos so all creation - all life - can flourish.

So ruling like God is not using things and people to get what we want. It’s ordering and caring for whatever’s been placed in front of you, so it can flourish.

And caring for what’s been put in front of you can look like not just being friends with people because they are useful to you. It looks like how you treat and talk to the auntie who clears your tray. Your helper at home. Your sibling who gets on your nerves every single day.

Every one of those is something God put in front of you and said: care for this world, so that life can grow and flourish.

So where does your worth come from?

Not from finishing the job. Your worth comes from being blessed for a purpose big enough to matter. God gave you a special purpose because He already decided you were worth trusting. |

MP3: (Our worth comes from being) Restored in Christ (v31)

(Pause point: let tweens write down MP3)

“God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.”

So at the end of days one to five, God looks at what He made and says good. But, at the end of day six, He says very good.

And some will say, oh it’s because humans showed up. So humans are the ones that made God say “very” good.

Well - Yes and no.

Look at what the verse actually says: God saw all that He had made. Not just the humans. All of it. The picture is finally complete. Everything ordered and in its rightful place with its rightful purpose. God’s people, living in God’s place, dwelling in God’s presence.

That - He says - is very good.

But we know the story. We stopped living like God’s image. We believed the other stories about where our worth comes from. And when we disobeyed, the image of God in us got cracked, | like this phone screen here.

Be honest - how many of you would continue using this phone, raise your hands? Play your games, message your friends? Actually, still can use. Can still see the picture, but it’s damaged.

That’s you and me.

The image is still there. God’s image is still on us. But it’s cracked.

That’s why sometimes you know exactly what the right thing to do is - and you still don’t do it.

And sometimes we’re told to just hide the cracks - cover it up, pretend we’re fine, do our best and don’t let anybody see the part of us that’s broken.

Here’s the good news: We don’t have to do that in God’s story.

Because if we’re living in God’s story - that story doesn’t end with the crack. |

Jesus died and rose from the dead. And when we open our hearts to God, He starts renewing His image in us. He is putting back what got broken - not just for us, but for all creation. |

And one day He finishes it - a new heaven and a new earth, where God’s people live in God’s place with full access to God’s presence again. The God who once looked at all of creation and called it very good is the same God who says at the end: “I am making everything new” |

So here’s what I want you to walk away with: You’re not waiting to be worth something. You’re not one grade, one win, one friendship away from finally being enough. You were made in God’s royal image. You were blessed for a very big purpose. And even cracked, God looked at you and decided you were worth restoring.

Conclusion:

So who gets to tell you if you’re enough?

If you’re living in God’s story, He already has. He decided before you did anything to earn it, that you are enough.

And if you really get what this story is saying, perhaps we don’t need another voice telling us that we’re enough.

We need to return to listening first to the story that once called all creation - including us - “very good”. God’s story.

So today’s big idea. Write it down: |

Return to God’s story that says I’m enough.

(Invite worship team up)

(Get tweens to tune in to what God is saying to them - write/draw it down)

Let us pray.