To Be Still and Know...The Grass Isn't Greener
"Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don't think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us. Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ's body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other. In His grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. If you gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly. Don't just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other." Romans 12:3-10
At Bible study last night the topic of jealousy and judgement was brought up which got me to thinking about many things, so to the ladies at study thank you for your genuineness and honesty you bring each week! All of us Christians need to be real with one another, which brings me to what I felt the Lord calling me to write about today. The grass isn't greener on the other side, and even if it is you don't know how much blood, sweat and tears went into making it green, or that it might be artificial turf!
Comparing our lives with other peoples lives is a guaranteed way to lose our joy, peace, and contentment. It's also a guaranteed way to ruin relationships and cause bitterness to take the place of the "genuine affection" we are supposed to have for one another. In the "information now" times we live in, it is extremely easy to compare ourselves and our lives with those around us. We open any of our number of social media apps and see images and status of what seems like peoples happy fun lives. Remember that people only put out there what they want you to see, and those few who do share real moments still can't capture what their lives are really like day to day because that is simply impossible to do through any kind of social app! Nobody can know what anyone elses life is truly like because we don't live with them every single moment but even more importantly we cannot see what is going on inside of their hearts and minds. Often times I will share food photographs of the meals and desserts I make because I love anything to do with food. I am going to let you in on a secret...I make sure I move items I don't like just out of the reaches of the cameras lens, so while you may see a pretty picture of freshly baked cookies on a neat and tidy counter with a cute coffee mug in the back ground, just know that beyond the edges of that photograph are probably papers, kids toys, phone chargers, crumbs and a various array of things that are my real life! When I praise my husband or my kids on facebook, all you get to read is the few sentences I choose to put out there. I am not telling you the nitty gritty, bring you to your knees, cause you to ugly cry moments that have taken place with these people. For one I don't believe that social media is the place to share everything. It's a good place for superficial fun, sharing photos, and for me personally, spreading God's Word. If you want to know the real me, let's go out for coffee and talk! I'd love to know the real you too.
Comparing our lives to others causes us to lose focus of the plans and purposes God has created us for. It causes us to think less of ourselves and our husbands and our kids and our blessings. It causes us to be ungrateful and self absorbed. We cannot fulfill God's calling in our lives when we are focused on ourselves. We have to get out of our own heads and look around us, reach out and really put love into action. We have to stop comparing, and start getting invested in peoples lives again. When we do this we will find out that everyone has struggles, nobody is perfect, and the jealously and judgment will stop. We will free our hearts up to love people the way God intended for us to.
We all have gifts and abilities that God has given us. Don't think about how good someone else is at leading a Bible study or speaking in public or giving with open hands. That's comparing yourself to them. Find out what gifts and abilities God gave you, because we all have them! Click Here to Take a Spiritual Gifts Test
After you have discovered what special gifts God's blessed you with, then start using them for Him! "Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically." Romans 12:11 One of my gifts is writing and while I love writing fiction stories, I realized that my gift of writing needs to foremost be used to bring glory to the Lord, to encourage others, and spread truths from His Word in a way hopefully many can easily understand and apply to their lives. If you get busy using your gifts for the Lord you won't have time to compare yourself to anyone and you will find that by not comparing, you will be able to love others like Romans 12 tells us "Don't just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other." (vs 9-10)
I want to challenge you to stop where you are and think about ways you have been comparing yourself to others and ask the Lord to help you not do that anymore and instead focus on the blessings and abilities He has given you. Work on making your own grass green and don't worry about anyone elses! I also want to challenge you to reach out to someone this week, someone you may have been secretly jealous of because you have based your thinking of who they are on what you have seen through photos and statuses. Ask them to come over for coffee or go out to lunch and take the time to get to know them and let them get to know you! You will certainly be blessed for taking time to grow in these areas!
At Bible study last night the topic of jealousy and judgement was brought up which got me to thinking about many things, so to the ladies at study thank you for your genuineness and honesty you bring each week! All of us Christians need to be real with one another, which brings me to what I felt the Lord calling me to write about today. The grass isn't greener on the other side, and even if it is you don't know how much blood, sweat and tears went into making it green, or that it might be artificial turf!
Comparing our lives with other peoples lives is a guaranteed way to lose our joy, peace, and contentment. It's also a guaranteed way to ruin relationships and cause bitterness to take the place of the "genuine affection" we are supposed to have for one another. In the "information now" times we live in, it is extremely easy to compare ourselves and our lives with those around us. We open any of our number of social media apps and see images and status of what seems like peoples happy fun lives. Remember that people only put out there what they want you to see, and those few who do share real moments still can't capture what their lives are really like day to day because that is simply impossible to do through any kind of social app! Nobody can know what anyone elses life is truly like because we don't live with them every single moment but even more importantly we cannot see what is going on inside of their hearts and minds. Often times I will share food photographs of the meals and desserts I make because I love anything to do with food. I am going to let you in on a secret...I make sure I move items I don't like just out of the reaches of the cameras lens, so while you may see a pretty picture of freshly baked cookies on a neat and tidy counter with a cute coffee mug in the back ground, just know that beyond the edges of that photograph are probably papers, kids toys, phone chargers, crumbs and a various array of things that are my real life! When I praise my husband or my kids on facebook, all you get to read is the few sentences I choose to put out there. I am not telling you the nitty gritty, bring you to your knees, cause you to ugly cry moments that have taken place with these people. For one I don't believe that social media is the place to share everything. It's a good place for superficial fun, sharing photos, and for me personally, spreading God's Word. If you want to know the real me, let's go out for coffee and talk! I'd love to know the real you too.
Comparing our lives to others causes us to lose focus of the plans and purposes God has created us for. It causes us to think less of ourselves and our husbands and our kids and our blessings. It causes us to be ungrateful and self absorbed. We cannot fulfill God's calling in our lives when we are focused on ourselves. We have to get out of our own heads and look around us, reach out and really put love into action. We have to stop comparing, and start getting invested in peoples lives again. When we do this we will find out that everyone has struggles, nobody is perfect, and the jealously and judgment will stop. We will free our hearts up to love people the way God intended for us to.
We all have gifts and abilities that God has given us. Don't think about how good someone else is at leading a Bible study or speaking in public or giving with open hands. That's comparing yourself to them. Find out what gifts and abilities God gave you, because we all have them! Click Here to Take a Spiritual Gifts Test
After you have discovered what special gifts God's blessed you with, then start using them for Him! "Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically." Romans 12:11 One of my gifts is writing and while I love writing fiction stories, I realized that my gift of writing needs to foremost be used to bring glory to the Lord, to encourage others, and spread truths from His Word in a way hopefully many can easily understand and apply to their lives. If you get busy using your gifts for the Lord you won't have time to compare yourself to anyone and you will find that by not comparing, you will be able to love others like Romans 12 tells us "Don't just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other." (vs 9-10)
I want to challenge you to stop where you are and think about ways you have been comparing yourself to others and ask the Lord to help you not do that anymore and instead focus on the blessings and abilities He has given you. Work on making your own grass green and don't worry about anyone elses! I also want to challenge you to reach out to someone this week, someone you may have been secretly jealous of because you have based your thinking of who they are on what you have seen through photos and statuses. Ask them to come over for coffee or go out to lunch and take the time to get to know them and let them get to know you! You will certainly be blessed for taking time to grow in these areas!
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