Pride and Prejudice

“Oh, I can’t be friends with so-and-so because they’re better at this than I am.” 

“She’s prettier than me, I can’t talk to her.”

“He’s too smart for me to hang out with him.”

How many times a week do thoughts like this run through our minds? I know that, for me, it happens far more often than I’d like to admit. I’ll see someone who I feel threatened by in a particular area and automatically avoid them like they’re Typhoid Mary. It’s almost like I can’t stand to be around someone who has a gift that exceeds mine. Too many times, this attitude prevents acquaintances from developing into beautiful friendships. 

Why do we react this way to certain people? Why do their gifts bother us when we know that God gave us our gifts just as He gave them theirs? I think oftentimes the answer is simple: pride. We are too prideful to appreciate our brothers and sisters in Christ for their gifts, especially if they have similar gifts to ours. We feel threatened by them because we’re afraid that through their use of the gift, our use will somehow be made “less special.” This, in fact, is not the case; rather the varying ways in which Christ’s people use their gifts serves to glorify Him more and to amplify the beauty of His church. We are not all made to be the same person. We are made to use our gifts in the way that God is calling us to do so. This doesn’t depreciate the value of the gift God has given you in any manner. He calls us to be beautiful in variety. We are all to fit together in such a way that no part of society is untouched by the Gospel of Christ.

Yet somehow, we still struggle with comparing ourselves to the person next to us. We see their inward and outward beauty, their gifts, everything that they have that we think makes them outshine us. This comes from a lack of focus on the right thing; we’re focusing on ourselves instead of the One whom we are called to focus on. When we’re focused on Christ, it doesn’t matter whether we’re better at something than someone else. It just doesn’t matter because the purpose of everything that we do should be to glorify God. Glorifying God may mean being ok with the fact that someone other than you claimed that particular award, or that certain job, or the affections of that man. It means being content with what God has given you, knowing that He has provided just exactly what you need for this time in your life. God is not overlooking your gift in that area, He’s simply telling you that He prefers to use your gift in a different way right now. He’s calling upon you to trust Him and you can trust Him. You can trust Him because of who He is: the holy King of all the earth who works all things for the good of those who love Him.

Love y'all!