In Matthew 25:14-30, we find the story of a man that goes on a journey and entrusts his wealth to his servants. You may already be familiar with it. To one man he gives five bags of gold, to another two and to the last, one. When the man returns, he finds that the man with the five bags has earned five more and the man with the two bags has gained two more. But the man with the one bag had dug a hole in the ground and buried it. The man commends the servants that invested the money wisely, but he calls the last man wicked and lazy. He gives that bag of gold to the servant with ten bags, knowing that he uses his resources wisely.
A while back, God really began to speak to me about the way I compare myself to others. I do this alot when it comes to ministry.
Ever since i was 13, I have wanted to work full-time teaching young people about Jesus. I have been blessed to have several mentors that have helped me to grow toward this goal and I am extremely grateful for them. However, I have been guilty of looking at other leaders that I admire and disqualifying myself because I don’t look like them. When I speak I don’t sound like them. My brain doesn’t process things like them. I’m different.
This insecurity has especially come into play with public speaking. If you want to be a youth minister, you have to learn how to talk to youth, publicly. I have always hated public speaking so developing this gift has been a struggle. I watch other people speak and they seem so confident. When I have to speak, my nerves go wild. Alot of that nervousness comes from my fear that people will not accept my voice, because it is different from what they are used to hearing.
You probably struggle in different areas, but I would say most people struggle at one time or another with the need to compare themselves to others.
So how does this relate to the story of the man with his bags of gold? God has revealed to me that whenever I try to be someone else I am burying my gold in the sand. God has made me different on purpose. My voice is different and it’s supposed to be. When I spend all my efforts trying to be somebody else, I leave the gifts and the potential that God has given me largely untapped. In that way, I leave all the resources He has put at my fingertips wasting away.
God has given me and you a voice. The purpose of that voice is to speak out to the world the message of love and grace that He has made known to us, with the unique personality that He has given us to speak it with. There are people that you can reach with your voice that I can’t and vice versa. That’s why God calls us a body, all the parts need each other.
Stop wasting your time wishing you were somebody else and lift up your voice!
