Where did that come from?
Growing up in the 80’s nothing was cooler than the original Nintendo Entertainment System. I remember seeing gifts my friends would get that I wished I had for my NES. My next door neighbor had the Power Pad and Track and Field. My cousin had Duck Hunt with the gun, not to mention ROB - the really cool robot that interacted with you in the games. I had neither.
I wanted what they had. I never got it.
The truth is they didn’t really do anything to get those things. They were gifts from parents, family or friends. Did they deserve it? Probably. Did I have a right to be jealous and want what they had? No.
Funny thing is we don’t really outgrow this struggle as we get older.
We look at what people have and we want it. We see an area that someone is talented in and we wonder why we don’t have they same talent or abilities.
When we live life from that vantage point one of two things can usually take place.
- We see our gifts compared to others and we begin to think it’s about us - because we deserve it, earned it, worked hard enough to get it, etc.
- We see our gifts compared to others and we begin to think we don’t have enough - I don’t deserve it, I could never earn that, no matter how hard I work - I will never get there.
Here is what is vital that we remember as Christians:
“In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well…”
Romans 12:9
Gifts are given by God’s grace.
Translation: you can’t earn or deserve it. It is based on His unmerited favor in our lives. And if you can’t earn them or deserve them, neither can that person who we are so busy comparing ourselves with. They have what they have only because of the grace of God.
I love what Dave Kraft says in his book “Leaders Who Last”:
“Dallas Willard observed that “grace is not opposed to effort, but to earning.” That means that it is not wrong to expend energy and effort to get to know the Lord, but it is unbiblical to do so with the thought of earning God’s love, favor, and acceptance through the effort.”
It is healthy and right to put forth effort to develop your gifts and abilities that God has given to you by His grace. It is wrong to think you can EARN it because of your effort.
Be confident in who God made you to be. Be strong in the grace that is on your life. Remember that by His choosing, by His grace, we each have what we have. Don’t waste your time, energy or strength comparing what you have with others when neither of you played a significant role in what you have received by God’s grace.