“Be yourself. Everyone else is taken.” Oscar Wilde
We all face the temptation to compare ourselves to others.
Our pride drives us to want others to think well of us and want ourselves to measure up to some arbitrary benchmark.
The formula often goes like this:
“I’ll never be the blank ___________ that ____________ is.”
You might fill in the blanks as follows:
“I’ll never be the preacher that John Piper is.”
“I’ll never be the evangelist that Billy Graham was…”
“I’ll never be the leader that so-and-so is.”
And the comparisons go on, and often include people close to us. This short post hopes to provide fresh encouragement in that battle.
God desires to use you the way He gifted you.
God uses a variety of people and their gifts in incredible ways. Some win thousands to Christ and enjoy wide influence, others use their God-given skills to serve the Lord in smaller ways–but ways that are no-less-significant.
What matters is our obedience to God, not the fruit that He bears through us.
God wants to use YOU.
YOU are a unique part of the body of Christ, equipped to do what God wants YOU to do. Christ will do his work through you because you are a part his body here on earth. You are an instrument in the hands of God–strive to make yourself available to Him, and He will use you and bear fruit through you.
Who says that God working through you by His Spirit can’t accomplish everything and more than those you compare yourself to?
It’s not in our skill, it is in the power of the Gospel that makes a difference. It is not our wise words or sheer-awesomeness, but a demonstration of the Spirit’s power that makes our lives and ministries bear fruit for the Lord (1 Corinthians 2:2-5). The Lord loves to use weak people–He gets more of the glory that way!
Are you seeking the Lord to where and how He might use you? Have you surrendered your dreams and goals to the Lord? Have you asked the Lord to give you His dreams and goals for your life?
Let us humbly seek the Lord and be available for Him to use us any way He desires.
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