I bet that quite a few of us know who Paul is. He is this huge guy in Christianity. He reached hundreds of thousands, spoke to so many, and the list goes on. He was/is a celebrity. It can be hard to look at Paul and think that we can be like him. We may not have the platform, the speaking abilities, the opportunities. To be honest, it can be hard to feel that we can make a difference if we are not doing big things like that. However, there are people behind the “Pauls” of our time and even Paul himself. (ACTS 9:10-19)
So there was a man of faith in Damascus named Ananias. Not many people know about him. He was not a big speaker or church planter like Paul. He was a guy who loved the Lord and was obedient to the call. He was called to go and pray for and encourage Paul. Despite knowing who Paul, still known as Saul was, he went. Not super willing, but he still went. He prayed over him and what the Lord was going to do in his life. He spoke words of encouragement and love over him. How many times have we gotten to be like Ananias to others. We may not be up on a stage or a podcast, but we get to pray for others and be their support systems. Ananias may not have spoken to 1000s, but his prayers and obedience helped propel and strengthen a man who did. Ananias was called to pray over Paul before he went on to do anything of the “big things” we know that he did. When working to advance the Kingdom, there is no one who is “higher up”. Every prayer, word of encouragement, verse shared is vital and important. In our lives, we have opportunities to be “Ananias” almost every day.
Though we may see people up on stage, we do not see the people standing behind them encouraging and praying for them.
Take those opportunities and allow others to pour into you as well.
We are not called to compare ourselves to others. There is no hierarchy in the Body of Christ. We are each created with different gifts and abilities and no two people will be the same. That is the beauty of how God created us. How boring would it be if we were all the same?
Having different gifts/strengths/abilities allow us to see the different attributes of God.
I know that comparison can be so tough, especially with social media. However, take the story of Ananias. He was not called to do the same thing as Paul. If he and Paul had done the same thing, then Paul might still be blind. There is such beauty in your gifts and the areas in which you thrive. It is a reminder everyday to celebrate your gifts as well as others. Beauty in your strengths and God works through your weaknesses.
You are comparing your lowlights to everyone’s highlight reel.
Adam and Eve were created perfect and everything around them was perfect. You start with comparison and then when comparing you strive for perfection. We strive for perfection as we were created for perfection. When you are playing a song so loud, you're not the one sounding good, it's the singer. When we turn down God’s volume, we will not sound as beautiful as the song. However, when we turn up the Lord’s voice, we are able to hear the beauty and hold me to the melody and beat.
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