I'm going to be gut wrenchingly honest and admit that lately I have been wrestling with this idea that there is only enough room for a certain amount of greatness in our world. This thinking that we don't need more speakers or writers or evangelists or____(you fill in the blank) has plagued me. It's quite frankly a lie from the pits of hell because I know without a doubt that God has made each of us for greatness. Not one of us is without great purpose and not one of us is 'just a number' to fill in the space of time we exist in. Our world is hurting and broken and God wants us to bring life into it. So there Satan, you are found out. Your nasty, low-life lie is exposed. And I will not be a victim of that thinking. Not anymore. Not under the authority of Jesus and the truth that we are made for more.
So that's that.
But I don't think I'm the only one that has been fed that lie. I think society is pretty well living that out.
I could get political here or start talking about social injustice and the other things that are behind thinking such as this, but I'm going to address the body of Christ and challenge our thinking because that is what God is doing in me right now.
Where does comparison come from? This I am wrestling with. It's clear to me that there are probably millions of roots that bear the fruit of comparison but since I am not an expert in uncovering all of the worlds problem (hah!) then I'm going to speak out loud what I know is true.
Here it is...Comparison of each other is never rooted in Jesus.
In observing other women and searching out myself I'm convinced that the most common root of comparison comes from insecurity. In Beth Moore's book So long insecurity, you've been a bad friend to us, she writes about each of us having a prominent false positive. Here is how she describes it...
"Most of us have what I'll call a prominent false positive: one thing that we think would make us more secure in all things. You want to know how you can pinpoint your own prominent false positive? The thing you tend to associate most with security?" She goes on to use some of the following examples.
..."you're married to the most fabulous man in the world."
Prominent false positive: A great man would make me secure
..."look at this house! Girl, you never have to worry about money."
Prominent false positive: Financial success would make me secure.
...you've got the best personality of anybody I know. Everybody likes you."
Prominent false positive: Popularity would make me secure.
...you're gorgeous! I'd give anything to see that in the mirror!"
Prominent false positive: Beauty would make me secure.
I hope you get the idea and maybe even identify your own prominent false positive. I've often used this concept to help identify when I am feeling insecure-also known as feeling 'threatened' by another person (usually a woman). It's the symptom of a deeper problem. Insecurity=comparison. Comparison=insecurity. Although I know without a doubt that men struggle with comparison as well, I am a women so I am going to speak to women when saying that we drowned in this and waste a lot of our time (knowingly or unknowingly) comparing ourselves with other women. This is one area that can easily choke the life out of the church, our relationships and ministry (as well as just about every other area of our life!). It simply sucks the joy and life-giving power out of areas of our life that we need encouragement the most. The word that God has given me to combat this thinking is Champion.
Champion is defined in a few ways, here are a couple I like:
1. a person who fights or argues for a cause or on behalf of someone else.
2. support the cause of; defend
Even some of the synonyms are powerful:
advocate, proponent, promoter, supporter, defender, backer
God is showing me the absolute need and power of choosing to champion the women in my life. I've had conversations recently with women who's eyes literally light up when I chose to verbally uplift them and affirm their gifts. I've also noticed that the more secure I am, the more secure women appear around me. It's like it opens up the door of permission to just be who we are. By killing comparison in our own lives, the wall of comparison begins to tumble down around us allowing other women to live more freely too. It's quite amazing really. Seeing that fuels me all the more to champion women in the calling God has on their life. Not feel bad when mine doesn't seem to stack up to being as popular or cool or desirable.
In light of leadership and looking at the ways in which we champion one another, I love this quote by Christine Caine, "If you have to squash the potential of another person in order to keep them "under you" then you have missed the point of leadership. Our role as leaders is to help each person to flourish & fulfill their purpose. They need to grow into Him not stay "under us"." If we are so focused on comparing and making sure that we stack up then we are missing the whole point.
Philippians 2 talks about humility. The thing is that even Christ Jesus did not consider equality with God to be used to his own advantage. He humbled himself. He served us. He died for us. He champions us. He tells us not to do anything out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility we are to value others above ourselves. IT'S RIGHT THERE. We are to pay careful attention NOT to compare ourselves because we shouldn't be trying to stack ourselves up against one another and be 'better' than the person looking at us. We should be considering other people better than us at all times. Not because we are 'less'. The Bible doesn't tell us to think about ourselves first because we don't need reminding of that. We are self-centered by nature. The Bible reminds us to think of others first so that we may have our focus off of ourselves and then we can build the body of Christ and join together to be light in the dark world. Now I ask you, have you been comparing or champion the people around you? Are you willing to acknowledge your prominent false positive and resolve to move past that point so that you are able to champion others?
If you'd be so bold, would you share with me your prominent false positive in the comments below. If you are comfortable and ready to release that, let's use the comment section as an alter to lay it before our God and release it fully to Him.
Holy Father God, we no longer want to hold onto what is holding your body back. We don't want to focus on comparing ourselves to other people in order to build ourselves up or feed this roaring lion inside of us that rages to be more important than everyone else. I claim that you have uniquely made us for an invaluable, eternal purpose and there is nothing that can steal that from us. There is no fear when living in you. You have the hairs on our head numbered. Let us remember that you also have the hairs numbered on each person around us. Help us to champion other people so that we are building and not tearing down your world. Thank you for loving us enough to reveal what our prominent false positive is and taking it from us so that we are no longer bound by it's false power.
In the powerful Holy name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
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