God wants us to be ourselves; He Himself made us the way we are. He never wanted us to compare ourselves with others.
Many people sit and think about how someone else is funnier, more popular, more spiritual, more hard-working and generally more amazing than they are and that they are just useless. These thoughts start very small but easily grow bigger and bigger over time.
I myself have wasted hours, days of my life comparing myself with someone else and wishing I was like them. I have stressed myself out, I’ve tried to change my way of living, tried to change my personality to fit into the picture of someone else. I have been on really nice trips with my best friends, only to find myself feeling not good enough and insecure.
Comparing ourselves with others can be really destructive if we give in to it.
Say “no” to the accuser
All these thoughts come only from one place: from Satan, the accuser. He tries to make us feel useless and condemned, and wants to draw us away from the work God actually wants to do in us. If he cannot get us to accuse our friends, he will try to get us to accuse ourselves!
A god-fearing man I know once said that if there is unrest, uncertainty and insecurity in me, it is a sure sign that the accuser is at work. People who give in to the spirit of accusation doubt everything. Nothing can make a person so empty as the spirit of accusation. That is why we must be awake and on guard – as you would be for the fires of hell – that we never allow anything of this spirit into our hearts.
We don’t have to listen to the accuser anymore – how good is that! God has planned our whole life, and wants everything to go well for us. He plans a hopeful future for us (Jeremiah 29:11), with the personality and circumstances that each of us has – not anyone else’s! If we are faithful to Him then He will look after us.
God made us as we are. Every one of us is created as a unique and wonderful person. We don’t have to be like anybody else – we can work with what God has given us. We can learn to use our personalities for the good – each one has a contribution to make that no one else can!
“You have looked deep into my heart, Lord, and you know all about me. You know when I am resting or when I am working, and from heaven you discover my thoughts … And I praise you because of the wonderful way you created me.” Psalm 139:1,2,14 (CEV).