i aM an APple

Comparison.

 "Satan's got two greatest tricks" It's a quote I like to repeat all of the time. What are his tricks, you ask? 

His first trick is to make you think he doesn't exist, the second, if you wise up and realize that he's real - he uses fear - trying to make you so afraid of him that you stop trusting in God's power and grace. (Which is never a good place to be in)

However, there is a third way - especially in America, his third greatest trick is comparison.

"Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that [is] thy neighbour's." - Exodus 20:17

The devil asks you to compare - because when you begin to compare yourself to others, your things to the things of others - your successes or failures to the triumphs and defeats of others- in that moment you take your eyes off the things of God and instead, begin to look inward. You look at yourself. Vanity. Pride. And it's when we are looking at ourselves that the devil really has the greatest grip on us.
Once again, humility is the virtue with the answer. You can do nothing without God. You are nothing without God. All you have and do and possess is because of God, and comes from God ....not you.

 

"For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him." - Colossians 1:16

 

 I had a weak moment tonight where I started to compare myself - doubt - question. I merited my own value and self-worth by those whom I was comparing myself too. I had forgotten that my value is not tied up in the world and of temporal things, but Christ. And Christ does not compare.

 

My mantra through this is "we are one body"

 

"Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body." 1 Corinthians 12:16-20

I have to keep reminding myself that though I am an active participant in the body of Christ, I am fully one, unique, person in this body. An ear cannot be an eye - and a Tori cannot be anything but a Tori.

 

Stop Comparing. Rather, I must keep my eyes on Christ, trusting and praising for the young woman He has fearfully designed and delights in me to be. If I want to truly live for Heaven, I must embrace all that God's given and made me.

"In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." I Thessalonians 5:18