Have you ever felt like you’re just losing at life? Even though you’re trying harder than ever? You’re working, you’re praying, you’re comparing, and you [music] feel like you keep coming up short and falling behind. Well, what if the [music] problem isn’t that you’re failing, but that you’re competing in the [music] wrong event? What if you’re a fish trying to climb [music] a tree? I know, I know.
Stay with me because by the end of this episode, I want to show you how [music] discovering who God made you to be can melt away your frustration, your jealousy, and your shame, and replace all those things with joy, gratitude, and real fruit for the kingdom. Don’t forget about checking out Reformed Roers coffee. If you love Java like I do, you got to check out Reformed Roasters, the coffee that chooses you.
It’s absolutely delicious and you can get 10% off your order if you go to reformedroers.com. Put in the promo code Kirk for some special love from Reformed Roers. All right. I was recently having a conversation with somebody that I love. And they shared with me a realization, a light bulb moment that only seems to come with time and a little humility.
And he said to me, “I’m finally learning that I am not meant to compare myself and my performance to others. I’m meant to be who God made me to be and understand the purpose he gave me uniquely as a person in his family and that’s a big moment when somebody understands that and it’s a very freeing moment.
Do you ever feel stuck in comparing yourself to other people? you can’t quite get where you really want to be and you’re waiting for some sort of a breakthrough. Well, listen, comparison doesn’t just steal your joy. The bigger problem is that it erases your identity. And here’s the root of it. When you and I try to answer the most important questions of life, which are who am I? Why am I here? If we don’t consult God and his word to get the answers to those questions, we inevitably start auditioning for a role that was never written for us. We start to say, “I want
to be that person. I want to I want to be able to do the things that that person does. Why can’t I do that and have that and be them?” And we start chasing heroes. We start idolizing examples. And we start measuring ourselves against people we were never created to be. And when we don’t live up to those imaginary standards we’ve created for ourselves or we let others create for us, we start to feel worthless. We feel less valuable.
We feel unworthy. We feel like a reject. We feel frustrated by that and even slip into depression. So we try harder. We’ll get it next time. But trying harder doesn’t help if you’re trying to be something you were never created to be. I say it’s like a turtle trying to high jump. It’s never going to get there.
