Listening to the Holy Spirit:
I Am, and change not. Before time I knew you, your frame in all its weakness known. My presence with you to be, from long past, even today. The pains also known, and the calling of the Father eternal to your ear. In the response of faith you honor He who sacrificed, that in death and weakness you would be made new. Stand strong against doubt and against sins long past, forgotten by My will. You are more than before, strengthened with My hand that you would do great work in your day. Unable before, but with might renewed, a conqueror over the weakness of flesh, borne now of Spirit and life. Suffering and trial continue, but defeat does not. You are redeemed by My blood, and strengthened with My Spirit. Good comes from what was detestable, power from weakness, endurance from the invalid. Arise in My strength. Bring to the cross the sin, that it might be swallowed up in forgiveness. My mercy for My children is everlasting, good to those who call on Me. Do not stare at the pit; it is not for My beloved. Seek the Truth that you would know the great favor of He who loves you.
Matt 24:15 (ESV) – To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability.
Matt 25:21 (ESV) –His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’
Heb 12:1 (ESV) – Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
Ex 20:17 (ESV) – “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”
Taking It to Work:
In the workplace we are constantly being reviewed for our performance. Often our pay and position change, based on the strengths and weaknesses that show up on our evaluations, usually in direct comparisons to others. Hopefully, we move up in the rankings over time, but sometimes we don’t. Sometimes we run as hard as we can, and we still get passed by others.
Years ago there was a saying, “Keeping up with the Jones’s”. In the quip, the Jones’s were your neighbors. If you looked out the window and saw that they got a new car, you felt you needed one; if they painted their house, you painted yours. It highlighted a trap we can all fall into, of feeling inadequate if we aren’t keeping up with others.
We are now in a world where it is way too easy to compare our lives with the lives of others. Facebook, Linked-In, and a host of other platforms have expanded the neighborhood to so many “Jones’s”, that many, working hard and doing their best, feel perpetually inadequate in the comparison. The trap has expanded, and with every scroll through another profile, there’s always someone with whom you can’t keep up.
Thank God, through our adoption in Christ, we have a higher purpose. We are lifted from that trap. No longer do we measure ourselves to others, but only to the expectations of God. Now on the surface that might feel more daunting, but it is not.
Like the parable of the talents, there was never any comparing the one who started with less, to the one that started with more. It was only a judgment from the Lord of whether they did well with that which was entrusted to their care. In the parable, the one who doubled the little, was congratulated just as the one who doubled the much. They both did great on the level the Lord placed them.
In the Lord’s eyes, we don’t play for the placement among our peers, we play to please the One who placed us strategically in the pack. He rewards when we perform well, right where we are, and loves each effort of His children, wherever we are in the pack. Not only that, He promises to run with us.
For the mere asking, He will guide us, give us wisdom, and strengthen us when we need it, to help us run the race He marked out for us. You are running with the King, not against the pack. Put that on your profile, and don’t worry about the Jones’s, as His Word works in you, today.
