Do not compare yourself

 My wife and I went to church last Sunday to a wonderful service.  The worship was great! The preaching was on Hebrews 11 one of my favorite chapters in the Bible.  On the exploits of men and women of Faith.

After the service I talked with someone and became increasingly depressed.  I could not understand why.

I had compared my life to those heroes and felt lousy.  What was wrong with me?  Why did I not measure up to them?

1)    The whole picture: I should have known better.  There was a blind spot and I felt like prey in the enemy's hands.  I had not gone into the details of these heroes' lives.  Some look very humans and like Elijah I was depressed when I did not get God’s perspective on the subject.

I had looked at their victories, but I missed the part where it said that some did not receive what was promised

  In fact, I remember when the pastor expressed jokingly his displeasure at the word “But” in verse 35 when it says “But others were tortured, refusing to turn from God...” In verse 39-40 it says: "All these people earned a good reputation because of their faith, yet none of them received all that God promised.  For God had something better in mind for us, so that they would not reach perfection without us.”

 

2)    All Inclusive Faith: Often, we, born-again believers are criticized for not being all inclusive, but we have a faith that includes everyone.  Everyone is welcome in the faith and all you must do is “believe in Christ and what he did on the cross for us” It is “sin” which separate us from God.

 

3)    Faith is on your side:  When God is on your side faith is there also.  Hold on to faith and interpret the Bible properly or the enemy of your soul will make a meal out of you.  He knows the Bible better than anyone else except Jesus.  Keep your eyes on Jesus and do not be distracted by anything.

 

That was my lesson for the day!