1. Your Divine Destination is Unique
You are extraordinarily set apart. Yes, we all have knowledge of this, but I don’t know if we really get it. There is not a single replica of your DNA anywhere in the universe. God has crafted each of us with a specific purpose in mind and as a result, my story cannot be a copycat. My struggles, my sense of humor (or lack of it), my passions, my purpose, my quirks are all a part of this beautiful story that God is writing just for me.
2. You Don’t Know The Full Story
The grass on the other side is not as green as you think and if it is, it took work. My neighbors invest a significant amount of time and energy to ensure that their lawn is beautiful. They devote time to their lawn: they water, trim, pull weeds, and plant seeds several times a month. They’ve even hired a professional to assist with this task. Comparing my lawn to theirs would not make sense because we have not done the same things (used the same products, time, energy, etc) nor followed the same steps to care for our grass. Likewise the story, time, materials, ministry, and passions of others are different than mine. We don’t know the full story. We don’t even know what it took to get that person from one point to the next. We don’t even know if the story we see is true. Spend time working on your own lawn and see how beautiful it will become.
3. You Make God Small
Comparison insinuates that God, in the grandness of who He is, somehow gave you the wrong tools for this life and that what He gave you is not enough. It hints that perhaps if He’d have known better, your life would be better and your gifts would be different. In an effort to discourage God from using them, Gideon complained that he was from the weakest clan and Moses told God that he couldn’t speak as well as others. God used them to do great things despite their shortcomings, or at least what they perceived were their shortcomings. God’s vision and purpose is bigger than anything we can imagine and when we put Him in a box by wishing for what others have, we fail to see what He can do with what we have.
Lord, help me to stop comparing myself to others. It is a trap that only pulls me down into a life of ungratefulness. Help me to look at what you are doing right in front of my eyes. Help me to see the beautiful things in my story and teach me to make my story a story worth hearing. Remind me daily that my story is like no one else’s and so my journey will be like none other.
