“Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ. For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.” (Colossians 2:8-10 NLT)
Have you ever met someone who was full of themselves? Perhaps they made a lot of money, had a nice house, car, or other material things, a prestigious position that gave them access to powerful people, and a part of you found yourself thinking: “Wow! What I would give to be that guy!”
When you measured yourself with that person, you found yourself falling very short, but why? What if you measured that same guy with Jesus? What if you measured yourself with Jesus? Yes, of course, you’d still fall short, but the beauty of measuring ourselves with Jesus, He’s never trying to “out-do” us, He’s always seeking to pull us up, to be better than we can be ourselves, to enable us to be more useful to Him and to His eternal Kingdom, thus far more than we ever dared dream we could be.
Discouragement is the breeding ground for greed, lust, pride, envy, covetousness, and a host of other negative attitudes that Satan uses to destroy our effectiveness for the Lord. If the enemy can keep us focused on what we don’t have or what we can’t do, or can’t be, or can’t have, he’s got us exactly where he wants us to be – useless for the Kingdom of God.
On the other hand, if we allow the Holy Spirit to continually teach us God’s Word, affirming us in the Spirit and enabling us to see beyond who or what we are, to who or what we can become in Christ, there’s no limit to what God can do for, in, and through us to His honor and fame.
Early in my ministry I would often wonder why God didn’t gift and equip me like that speaker or that teacher or why couldn’t I pray like that Pastor? I hadn’t yet realized that God will never make us like anyone else, because we can be of value to the Kingdom only when we allow Him to make us the best version of ourselves that we can possibly be.
The closer I get to Jesus the more my heart longs to be like Him, to love like Him, serve like Him, pray like Him, and allow Him to so fill and use me that He gets all the credit for my life. No longer do I long to be like anyone else but Jesus. The Prince of Preachers, Charles Spurgeon said: “Let us measure ourselves by our Master, and not by our fellow-servants: then pride will be impossible.” Why would pride be impossible?
Largely because pride seeks to build us up and make much of ourselves in the eyes of others. Measuring ourselves by our Master keeps our eyes on Him, thus desiring nothing except honor, glory, and recognition for Him. The closer we get to Jesus the less recognition, honor, fame, and glory we desire for ourselves and the more we desire to stay in His holy shadow.
If you’re discouraged today because you don’t feel you’ve gotten the breaks you deserved or the prestige or recognition your contribution to the Kingdom of God deserves, your focus is on the wrong person. One thing I’ve learned in my long life is this: all I want is to be at the feet of Jesus, rendering to Him the glory and honor He deserves, and to wait patiently for the words that will mean everything to me from the lips of my Master: “Well done My good and faithful servant!”
Food for thought.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 