Are you happy with who you are, or are you constantly comparing yourself to other people? Have you ever said something like one of these? “Oh if I could sing like Aretha Franklin, play guitar like B.B. King, cook like Gordon Ramsey, or preach like Billy Graham.” Perhaps these are extreme examples. Maybe it looks something more like, “I wish I could crochet like my grandmother, or I wish I could draw something that wasn’t a stick figure.” Maybe it’s even, “I wish I had someone else’s job, or paycheck, car, spouse, family.” You can insert your own comparisons here. What we should be asking ourselves is why we’re trying to keep up with the Joneses?
Psalm 139:14 - I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.
God created you to be you. You are a unique individual that God picked to have a particular gifting and calling.
Jeremiah 1:5 - “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.”
Jeremiah was created to be a prophet, Billy Graham was created to be a preacher. Aretha and B.B. were created to be musicians. Gordon was created to be a chef. If we’re constantly comparing ourselves and our situations to someone else, we are selling ourselves short, and even saying that what God made us to be isn’t good enough. Let me assure you, YOU ARE GOOD ENOUGH! God loves you and has a future destined for you!
Jeremiah 29:11 - For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
Each person is created with a set of gifts and callings that are unique to them. You are unique and valuable and the Lord put you here for a reason!
Proverbs 18:16 - A man’s gift makes room for him, And brings him before great men.
2 Timothy 1:6-7 - Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
We are to use our gifts without fear, without judging ourselves in comparison to other people. When we judge ourselves that way, we limit who we were created to be! Let’s look at an Old Testament example.
1 Samuel 17:38-39 - So Saul clothed David with his armor, and he put a bronze helmet on his head; he also clothed him with a coat of mail. David fastened his sword to his armor and tried to walk, for he had not tested them. And David said to Saul, “I cannot walk with these, for I have not tested them.” So David took them off.
Armor was made for the individual person. Saul was extremely tall. At the time, David was a young man, whose only training was being a shepherd and protecting his father’s sheep. Saul’s armor was not made for David, so it didn’t fit. It was cumbersome, and made it difficult for him to move. He wouldn’t have been able to battle Goliath with it on. When we try to apply what has been made for someone else to ourselves, we cannot move in things of the Lord that He made specifically for us.
1 Samuel 16:7 - But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
Even Samuel originally tried to short-change David, because he didn’t look the part of a future king. But God had a plan. He doesn’t look at what we are right now, but who we were created to be!
So let’s take off Saul’s armor, it doesn’t fit us. Our gifts are like David’s slingshot. The right tool in the right hands that can overcome any obstacle in front of you! Grab your slingshot and let’s go slay the giants!
Be blessed my friends!