Peace in Your Place: For those who struggle with comparing

God made you a special vessel for a special purpose, and He doesn’t require or even wish for you to be exactly like those you find it easy to compare with. You are different, with a different personality, role, and future. Take to heart what He told Peter when he was asking Jesus about John, saying, “Lord, what shall this man do?” Jesus had been speaking to Peter, telling him what he was to do, but he still wondered how he stood in comparison to John and the others and what their role was to be. Part of it was curiosity, but a large part was his inclination to compare. Do you remember what Jesus told Peter? “What is that to thee? Follow thou Me!” John 21:15–25

Jesus looks at your heart, and He is concerned only by your love for Him, your desire to please Him, and your obedience in following what He shows you to do. Don’t worry and fear about how far along you are, or look back and think that you haven’t learned as much as others may seem to have. Because comparing where you are at in life with where others are at will only confuse you. Gods plan for each person unfolds in different ways and at different times, so it isn’t wise to compare. Consider what He has said in His Word and let the Holy Spirit speak gently to your heart and show you what areas you can improve in. The Spirit is loving and gentle—unlike the Evil One, who will condemn you.

Remember that God am not the author of confusion, but of peace. He longs to give you that peace in your heart that passes all your human understanding and gives you acceptance of the way He has made you. He gives that peace freely, but He asks that you put aside comparing and negativity and accept His peace.

Your mind can be trained, and like a muscle, it can be strengthened and toned. You can start training your mind to react positively to otherwise negative situations. That doesn’t mean that you have to throw objectivity to the wind and become a blind optimist. But when your self-talk has condemning overtones, you need to begin the difficult but necessary task of taking back the control of your thoughts so that you can see things as Jesus sees them. He wants you to bring every thought into captivity, and this is how you can begin to do that.

When you hear yourself thinking negatively about yourself, force yourself to bring up the positive side. Don’t let your thoughts turn into a monologue of negativity, but fight back with positive thoughts. “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.”^{Proverbs 23:7} Even if you feel you’re just forcing yourself to think or react positively, don’t feel bad. If you’re faithful and persevere, in time it will become a good habit, and then you’ll actually feel better about yourself and develop a more positive outlook on yourself and things around you.

If you put forth that effort of a willing mind, Jesus will help you to win the victory.

*

God will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you.—Isaiah 26:3

*

Jesus will anoint you for the things He wants you to do. He loves you for who you are, for the way God created you. He sees your faithfulness and love for Him. He sees the sacrifices you make to please Him.

Take a stand against your negative thoughts and comparisons and replace them with the knowledge that God gifted you in the way that He want you to be gifted, and that He does all things well. Give no place to the Devil. Ephesians 4:27

It is helpful if you seek the help and prayer of a close friend or family member. Be open and honest so that you can receive support in prayer. Fight to have positive thoughts, a positive outlook. Commit yourself to seeking Jesus and His perspective on things when you find yourself battling negativity. You can ask Him to show you the truth—and then He asks that you accept it, believe it, and act upon it.

Jesus will help you and deliver you. He will give you the anointing needed to fight this battle.

The victory is yours if you fight on. There is much ahead of you, so don’t give up the fight or faint in your mind. Come to Jesus, trust Him, and let Him strengthen you. He will bring you through as even finer gold, more precious than before—more trusting, more believing, an even better vessel in His hand, if you hold fast to your faith.