NO ONE ALIVE WHO IS YOUER THAN YOU

How much time do you waste thinking thoughts you know can't be true?

But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves 

with one another, they are without understanding.  

2 Corinthians 10:12

If we were together having tea this morning I would ask you, "does God love you?".  

And because you're a Christian and you know your Bible, you'd say, "Yes".

But this morning that very thought came to me with a deeply peaceful and liberating strength.

God does love me.

I am His much loved child.

Am I perfect?

No, not even close.

Is that a problem for God?  

Does it frustrate and limit His love for me?

No it does not.

He made me as I am.

Unique.  

One of a kind.

He's not into mass production.

Every one of us is a divinely designed and handmade original.

Whatever my failings, my inadequacies, my limitations, they are known to God.

Yet, He has a plan for my life that He is able to carry out by His own resources, His own abilities, and His own unlimited wisdom, power, and strength.

After Paul's conversion on the road to Damascus God spoke to a disciple named Ananias and gave him a job to do.  He was reluctant, but God urged him on to his mission. 

But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:  For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake.

Acts 9:15-16

I'll bet you haven't wasted a day, not a moment, wondering why you don't measure up to Paul.  

Why your ministry and gifts aren't just like his.

Why is that?  

Because you get that Paul had a special unique calling on his life.  

God had chosen him and designed him for the job.

So why do you compare yourself to others?  The other Moms you know at church.  The other wives you see at Soccer practice.  The nurse who's in charge of your floor at the hospital.  That woman walking in front of you in the Grocery Store.  

Two Reasons:

• You don't know her unique calling.  That thing God is planning on doing through her life, and her life only.
• You've taken your eyes off Jesus. There is only one person by whom we can ever measure ourselves.  Becoming like Jesus is the goal of the Christian life.  

The urge to compare usually springs from our insecurities, or oddly enough, from our pride.  Think of the Pharisee praying next to the tax collector (Luke 18:9-14).

Conviction of sin and insecurities are not the same thing.

One is clear and concise because it's a call to repentance and renewed fellowship with God.

The other is vague and generalized and its author is your adversary. 

He'd like nothing better than for you to spend your time focused on yourself.

Or on others, but not in a good way.  Not in a, "how can I serve her, how can I encourage her?" sort of way.  

He's happy if our focus is, ' how can I be more like her and less like me'.

He's happy as long as my focus isn't Jesus.

Take some time today to thank God for His unique design of you.  

Jesus shines through you in a way He couldn't through anyone else.  

Don't waste time critiquing His creation and comparing it to others He made.

Gaze more on Him and less on yourself.

And above all, think on His love for you.

"Today you are You, that is truer than true.  

There is no one alive who is Youer than You."

Dr. Seuss