Not that we [have the audacity to] venture to class or [even to] compare ourselves with some who exalt and furnish testimonials for themselves! However, when they measure themselves with themselves and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding and behave unwisely.
—2 Corinthians 10:12
Advertising is often geared to make people strive to look the best, be the best, and own the most. If you wear "this" particular brand of clothes, people will admire you! Try "this" new diet and lose those few extra pounds—and then you will be accepted and noticed. The world consistently gives us the impression that we need to be something other than what we are.
A confident person avoids comparisons. Confidence is not possible as long as we compare ourselves with other people. No matter how good we look, how talented or smart we are, or how successful we are, there is always someone who is better, and sooner or later we will run into him or her.
I believe confidence is found in doing the best we can with what we have to work with and not in comparing ourselves with others and competing with them. Our joy should not be found in being better than others, but in being the best we can be. Always struggling to maintain the number-one position is hard work. In fact, it's impossible.
Lord, I refuse to compare myself with others and compete to be better than them. My only interest is to be the best I can be with the gifts and talents You have given me. Amen.
The Power to Transform Lives
by Dr. Paul Chappell
“I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise. So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”
Romans 1:14–16
Along with the command to take the good news of salvation to the world, God has given us the only message that has the power to transform lives—the gospel of Jesus Christ. All around us people are trying all sorts of tools for life transformation. They are turning over new leaves, attending training classes, joining recovery programs, seeing counselors...the list goes on. But the only thing that can truly change lost and sinful human nature is the power found in the gospel.
Charles Spurgeon wrote, “In 1857, a day or two before preaching at the Crystal Palace, I went to decide where the platform should be fixed; and, in order to test the acoustic properties of the building, cried in a loud voice, ‘Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.’ In one of the galleries, a workman, who knew nothing of what was being done, heard the words, and they came like a message from heaven to his soul. He was smitten with conviction on account of sin, put down his tools, went home, and there, after a season of spiritual struggling, found peace and life by beholding the Lamb of God.”
The power to see people saved and transformed does not lie in us, but in the message we have been entrusted to deliver. That is our responsibility—not the results. If we are faithful in presenting people with the gospel, God will do the work of saving and remaking their lives.
Romans 1:14–16
Along with the command to take the good news of salvation to the world, God has given us the only message that has the power to transform lives—the gospel of Jesus Christ. All around us people are trying all sorts of tools for life transformation. They are turning over new leaves, attending training classes, joining recovery programs, seeing counselors...the list goes on. But the only thing that can truly change lost and sinful human nature is the power found in the gospel.
Charles Spurgeon wrote, “In 1857, a day or two before preaching at the Crystal Palace, I went to decide where the platform should be fixed; and, in order to test the acoustic properties of the building, cried in a loud voice, ‘Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.’ In one of the galleries, a workman, who knew nothing of what was being done, heard the words, and they came like a message from heaven to his soul. He was smitten with conviction on account of sin, put down his tools, went home, and there, after a season of spiritual struggling, found peace and life by beholding the Lamb of God.”
The power to see people saved and transformed does not lie in us, but in the message we have been entrusted to deliver. That is our responsibility—not the results. If we are faithful in presenting people with the gospel, God will do the work of saving and remaking their lives.
Today’s Growth Principle:
What our world needs is not better methods, but faithful proclamation of the message of the gospel.
Avoid Comparisons
by Joyce Meyer - posted March 14, 2017Not that we [have the audacity to] venture to class or [even to] compare ourselves with some who exalt and furnish testimonials for themselves! However, when they measure themselves with themselves and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding and behave unwisely.
—2 Corinthians 10:12
Advertising is often geared to make people strive to look the best, be the best, and own the most. If you wear "this" particular brand of clothes, people will admire you! Try "this" new diet and lose those few extra pounds—and then you will be accepted and noticed. The world consistently gives us the impression that we need to be something other than what we are.
A confident person avoids comparisons. Confidence is not possible as long as we compare ourselves with other people. No matter how good we look, how talented or smart we are, or how successful we are, there is always someone who is better, and sooner or later we will run into him or her.
I believe confidence is found in doing the best we can with what we have to work with and not in comparing ourselves with others and competing with them. Our joy should not be found in being better than others, but in being the best we can be. Always struggling to maintain the number-one position is hard work. In fact, it's impossible.
Lord, I refuse to compare myself with others and compete to be better than them. My only interest is to be the best I can be with the gifts and talents You have given me. Amen.
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