"Why can't I be like...."

"Why can't I be like....."

Have you ever said those words? To yourself? To someone else? I've often wondered why we spend so much time comparing ourselves to other people.

This is not to say that we shouldn't look up to others. That we shouldn't look to learn from those who are more grounded than we are. But it's a fine line to walk - the line between admiration and emulation. And if we walk on the emulation side, we can tend to always be comparing ourselves to the person we're trying to emulate. The same danger exists when we compare ourselves to those we don't know, but LOOK like they have it all together.

I used to deceive myself into thinking that this was a "teen issue", and that as a youth pastor, part of my calling was to help students see themselves as original masterpieces. But as I've grown in my own walk, I've seen that everyone is vulnerable to it. It's just the people who we look up to that change. For some, it's celebrities. For others, it's leaders in their lives. Even pastors can fall into this trap by looking at their counterparts around the world and ask themselves why they can't be more like these other guys and gals. And it's nothing short of a trap. It's a trap because once we fall into it, it's really hard to get out of. And once we start down that pathway of thinking, it gets dangerous and harder to turn back from.

Psalm 139:13-14 is a special verse for me, because we prayed it and claimed it over our daughter who, soon after birth, was struggling to breathe and stay alive. Today, she's a crazy wild, beautiful 8 yr old! It reads "For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made." Each of us should claim this for our own lives. We are created, from day one, for a purpose and with God's hands all over us. Regardless of how we see ourselves, God knows why he put our "pieces" together the way He did. We're not an accident and we're not a mistake. When we see ourselves that way, and spend too much time comparing ourselves to others, we're cancelling out what v.14 wants us to know - that we should praise HIM because we are wonderfully made.

2 Corinthians 5:17 is also special to me, because it reminds me that I am not the same person I was before knowing Christ as my personal Savior. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." We should live as new creations! We're not bound by past mistakes, past insults, past poor self image. Christ has renewed us as new creations. It tells us the the old has passed away! It's gone!! Time to let it go!!

Today was one of those days where I felt myself getting caught in the comparison trap. As I read a story of another person in youth ministry, I caught myself thinking "why can't I do that" and "why can't I be like...". And it's a person I've never even met! Probably have never even been in the same room with! Both of the above verses reminded me that I am the person/man/husband/dad/pastor that God created me to be. Sure, I have areas to work on - we all do! But I am praising Him because He's made me, with my gifts and strengths (and even weaknesses) for a purpose and reason. And He'll use me to impact lives in HIS time and HIS way.

If you're wrestling with this comparison trap today, be encouraged that you're not alone. Be challenged to let it go and see yourself as God does - as a unique creation. Be everything you can where you are, and stop looking around at what others do and try to be them. Be you! You are the only you that will ever exist! You are the only person that God has created to be you! There will never be another! Let the world see how wonderfully you've been made!! And let them give God the glory for it!!


Selah...