Our Measuring Stick

Twitter.  Facebook. Google+. Voxer.  Youtube.  Oh social media . . . What have you done to us? We are living in a generation that is so consumed with putting out there every area of our life from what we ate for breakfast to how long we ran to who we saw in Starbucks to what craft our kids made.  Although there is some benefit from that feeling of connectedness to others, it can definitely create a constant need to see where we measure up.  For example, if you take a group photo, who is the first person you look at when you see the picture?  Yourself.  So when we read about all the "great" things other people do, we can't help but reflect on ourself and see by subconsciously thinking things like "yeah, well I did that too" or "I wish I had that kind of time and money" or "I wish my kid could do that" or whatever other thoughts we internalize to compare someone else's life against our own.  The result is that we start to take that process of measuring up into other areas of our life. 

I see this being especially detrimental when we take it into our walk with the Lord.  We look at how someone else worships or how much of the Bible they know or how they serve and start to compare our own life against theirs to find out where we "rate." I used to feel such a sense of inadequacy as a Christian because I had never prayed the sinner's prayer with anyone.  I felt like since I never brought someone to the Lord, what good have I possibly done for the Kingdom of God?  Isn't that exactly what Satan wants us to think.  

I was recently talking with a dear Christian friend who definitely seeks the approval of others. She was noting how confident other people seem and was asking for prayer that she could have a "backbone" and speak with greater boldness without so much anxiety about about what others thought. I told her I wouldn't pray that for her (so rude, right?). What I believed she was failing to see was how God was using her gentle warm friendly spirit to welcome people who otherwise wouldn't know or talk to anyone. The reason why she might not tend to speak with conviction into someone's life is because God effectively uses her to be a place of safety and comfort, not for telling hard truths. I know this because she's done so for me. I wanted her to see her gift in the light of God's plan and not an earthly comparison. Instead I prayed for her that she would obey only the Holy Spirit to lead where He follows and regardless of what it looks like, she would be filled with a divine peace knowing her purpose, whether in boldness or quiet obedience.  And if she leaves a situation without speaking with boldness, that she could trust The Lord has equipped someone else to do so.  I pray the same for you: that you would use YOUR unique gifts and strengths to their fullest divine potential without any earthly measuring stick involved.