Who are you letting determine your identity?
Is it your friends and family? Maybe it’s the folk on social media that seem to have it all together. Maybe it’s even you who are comparing yourself to the high school or college classmate who didn’t have the grades that you had but who has accomplished much more than you. We compare everything. We compare our size, our shape, our color, how we talk, and our intelligence. We compare our families, our kids, our jobs, our talents, and even our lawns.
Here’s the problem. Pastor Rick Warren says that “comparing is the root of all envy”. Just like the love of money is the root of all evil means that your priority is money and not God, when you compare yourself with another person you fall prey to pride or envy.
God warns us about comparing yourself to someone else.
2 Corinthians 10:12 NIV We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise.
Every time you compare, you fall prey to either pride or envy. When you find someone who’s doing a better job than you, you fill up with envy. When you realize you’re doing a better job than someone else, you become filled with pride.
Always remember that God created you to be unique to be one of a kind. Every one of us is a person of unique and awesome design. We don’t have to measure up to others. Far from being a problem, we can learn to use our personalities constructively. Each one of us has a contribution to make that no one else can. Your unique and specific mannerisms, insights, and style are the very qualities that make you uniquely positioned to fulfill a specific need, the one that God purposed for you.
Ephesians 2:10 NLT For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
You are incomparable.
Galatians 6:4 NLT Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else.
When you get to heaven, God’s rewards won’t be based on talent you didn’t have or opportunities you weren’t given. He will reward you based on how you lived and what you did with what you were given. Salvation is by grace, not by works, but rewards are according to the works of the believer. Salvation is a gift; rewards are earned.
God has called you to be the best you can be in light of your background, experiences, and the talent that he’s given you. It’s time to stop focusing on others and instead make the most of those gifts that are uniquely yours.
There’s no need to compare yourself with others. In fact, you can’t focus on your own purpose while you’re focusing on other people.
Romans 8:29 NLT For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
When you get to heaven, God won’t say, “Why weren’t you more like this person or that person?” No, instead he’ll ask, “Why weren’t you more like the person I purposed you to be?”
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