Some people feel the need to compete in order to gain popularity, respect and success amongst their leaders, peers and even their family. I want you to know that you shouldn't be competing with anyone!
Favor on your life isn't just granted so you can earn recognition. Jesus already recognizes WHO you are and assigns unmerited favor to you without the need to EARN it through works.
I want to encourage you today to shake off the notion to perform and simply relax in the finished work of Christ.
Performance based ministry is saturated with the spirit of legalism and does not benefit the Kingdom of God!
I believe we all struggle with a degree of INSECURITY and PERFORMANCE based ministry because we've all had our true IDENTITIES distorted by the sin we were born into. God created us to be His INTIMATE friends, but sin separates us and makes us feel INCOMPLETE and INSECURE.
That VOID compels us to COMPETE with and COMPARE ourselves to one another. We end up living based on the PERCEPTIONS and unrealistic EXPECTATIONS of others, and we let our SIN lead us there because it feels natural.
Today...I'm FED UP with seeing this need to PERFORM in life and ministry. Today...I want you to know that you need to RUN YOUR OWN RACE...not everyone else's!
How do you RUN YOUR OWN RACE?
1. KNOW YOURSELF
God has designed us to be FRUITFUL where He has planted us. However, we won't be fruitful if we really haven't discovered who we are and what ministry God has called us to.
Ask yourself the following questions:
- What are my gifts?
- How do I see God using me now?
- How has He used me to minister to others in the past?
- What message does my life seem to write over and over?
Knowing yourself starts with a SELF-EXAMINATION of your life, gifts and calling so that God will help you see who He has created you to be. I love Peter's explanation of this in 2 Peter 1:3 and also James 1:5-6.
- By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.
- 5 If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. 6 But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind.
When He speaks to you and you understand who you are, you won't feel the pressure to become someone else. This is the first key to running your own race!
2. BE YOURSELF
It's tempting to watch and analyze other people who are successful and think we have to be like them, especially in the world of Internet overload. However, doing this FREEZES our fruitfulness because we fall victim to COMPARISON, COMPETITION and other people's EXPECTATIONS and PERCEPTIONS!
FREE YOURSELF by knowing that God only expects you to be YOU!
If you're feeling pressure to become anyone else, then know that that impulse did not come from The Holy Spirit...but rather your old nature!
THROW IT OFF!
God did not FREE you just to make you a slave to sin again! If the Son has set you free, then you are free! (John 8:36)
Don't throw away your hopes and dreams...I believe God wants to use you beyond what you can imagine! He can align your hopes and dreams to His so that you're not STRIVING, COMPETING or COMPARING and becoming FRUSTRATED!
Friend, run your own race,
not someones else's!
You are not equipped to run someone else's...you are only equipped to run the race that Jesus has designed for you. Only you can run in our lane, so STAY IN IT and don't merge into someone else's.
KNOW YOURSELF and BE YOURSELF and I believe you will "win the prize for which Christ has called you heavenward in Christ Jesus!" (Philippians 4:13)