Stay In Your Lane - All-Caps YOU

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
before you were born I set you apart.

The Comparison Trap

One day my lovely sister and I were driving home from school. A car pulled out in front of us and headed straight for us. They didn’t realize they were in the wrong lane. In urgency, to let them know and keep us safe, I honked my horn. Truly seconds later, I questioned if I was the one who had drifted into the wrong lane. I actually said out loud, “Wait! Am I in the right lane?” I doubted myself because something was coming at me from the other direction.

Doesn’t that reflect our spiritual journey sometimes? When we are running the race that God has called us to run, following His purpose, the enemy will throw flaming arrows of fear or doubt or pride straight at our hearts (Ephesians 6:16). We can find ourselves wondering if the truth is actually true. We begin to wonder if we are in the right lane. We begin to doubt the worth of the abilities and gifts that God has entrusted to us. When we are not prepared for attacks from the enemy, the flaming arrow of insecurity often leads to a response of comparison. We don’t feel like we’re enough. We don’t feel like we measure up. We don’t trust who God says we are.

Sometimes I forget who I am in Christ and start to believe that I am not worthy. In those times, I begin to compare all that I am to others. This is a dangerous place to be because comparison is not a part of God’s design. He made each and every one of us an original. Each of us is a limited edition. The enemy wants us to compare ourselves to others, in hopes that we will miss the radiant and abundant joy of “driving” in a manner worthy of the unique calling we have each received from the Lord. Comparison diverts our attention from God. We can be stopped dead in our lane simply because our path doesn’t look the same as the person driving next to us.

Many have heard the saying “Comparison is the thief of joy.” When we compare ourselves to others, we are pointing out what we don’t have rather than praising God for what we do have—and we miss out on seeing the beauty in others too.

Unique You

There is no one else on earth like me—no one else like you. Before we were born, the King of kings engraved us upon the palm of His hand (Isaiah 49:16). He was enthralled by our beauty as He delicately placed every freckle, dimple, and curve upon each sweet face. He delighted in speaking love over us and embracing us with His compassion.

The Great I Am. Oh, how I can just see Him and how He was probably weeping tears of awe because He got to call us His. He determined our height and proclaimed every inch of us flawless, from the color of our skin to the shape of our eyes, from the tone of our voice to the curliness or straightness of our hair. Our Heavenly Groom proclaimed us pure masterpieces in the presence of all creation. No question. We are treasured and made with purpose. We are set apart. We are planned. We are not accidents. Nothing about us can be considered a mistake. The Author of Humanity chose to write our names in His book before the existence of time because each and every one of us is worthy of a role in His story (Revelation 13:8). He said, “Yes, I want you.” He called us by name (Isaiah 43:1). Our lives are abounding in the purpose of God. He breathed into our lungs, so that we may live the life that He intentionally planned for us to live with Him, by Him, through Him, and for Him (Genesis 2:7).

When we realize that God made us perfect, exactly how we are, we find pure confidence. We can accept ourselves and others as set apart for God’s glory, rather than not good enough when compared to someone else. We will begin to see ourselves and others as God does.

Christ’s Body

God didn’t make us to be like the person to the left or right of us.

My wonderful daddy describes it like this: If you were to cut off your pinkie toe, even though the pinkie toe is super-duper small, you would be in pain. It would be hard to walk. In the same way, we are all together the body of Christ. We are set apart to play different roles and perform different functions. Without these varying roles, the body doesn’t function how God designed. If I am a pinkie toe and compare myself to the ear all the time, I completely miss out on the set-apart purpose of helping the body balance because I am so upset that I can’t hear (1 Corinthians 12:14-20).

Not only does God’s lane for us have purpose, but those to the left and right of us have purpose as well. When we start to recognize one another as key parts of God’s Kingdom that have been designed uniquely in unity, we can look to Jesus together. We can complement one another’s beauty rather than comparing ourselves with a heart posture of insecurity.

So, beauty queens and mighty warriors, we have no need to question the lane God chooses for us. We don’t need to look to the left and right or worry about comparison. With our eyes fixed on Jesus, we can keep running the race that has been set before us with endurance (Hebrews 12:1-2).