Lies, lies….don’t believe a word he says!
Jesus warns us that, “Satan is the Father of
all lies.” And yet we continue to fall for them.
Lies, kill reputations, destroy
families and can steal our freedom,
peace and joy?
Let’s take a look at how lies affect our relationships
with our sisters-in-Christ—our forever family.
Paul admonishes us to esteem others (those in the household
of faith) more highly then ourselves. (click) Philippians
2:3-5 Amp But our enemy comes along with a bag of tricks and lies (and
has been very successful) to make sure we do not esteem each other higher than
ourselves, and also compete with each other.
Now the Bible is very clear that the Holy Spirit is the one
who decides who gets which gift(s), and why? We have nothing to do with that.
Yet, because we believe the lies, versus the truths of God, we
somehow believe that our gifts are better than others or we were jipped by not receiving
a certain gift.
Too many of us think our education means something more
to God than someone who may not have as much formal education. Lie of the enemy, “See, you are more
highly educated than she is, which puts you on a much higher playing ground.
And you’re smarter!”
Maybe you have a gift that is more visible than others. Lie of the enemy, “God loves you more.
Look at how well you function in your gift. See how so many benefit from it.”
But there is a flipside to this also—“She thinks she’s
better than you.” “Why is it that she gets that particular gift and not you?”
“It seems that God loves her more than He loves you.”
The acceptance of lies, opens the door for us to become envious, jealous
and very insecure in who we really are in Christ.
God created us to complement one another—not to be in
competition. That is strife and division.
When you take a moment to really think about it—it’s stupid
to try to use the gifts and talents that God has bestowed upon us to “one up” each
other—yet, it happens every day.
Competition: the
act of competing; rivalry for supremacy, a prize, etc. I really like this
simple definition of competition, because as children of the King, the end
prize is all the same for us. And we can only be superior in our own minds and
hearts, because we are commanded to love one another and love is not jealous or
envious.
As we give into the thoughts or emotions of competition, we
lose the freedom of being able to cheer each other on. Yes, there is great freedom in love.
I had to really spend a minute thinking about the different
ways we compete as sisters-in-Christ. And I realized our “words” are a huge source of competition.
Have you ever been in a situation where someone constantly
talks about themselves or brags on their husband or kids? I have and it can
become very tiring and is a huge setup to shoot them down by telling them about
you, your husband or kids.
When my youngest daughter was in 1st grade, one
afternoon while chatting with a parent who had a child in her class we got on the
subject of reading and she started bragging about her daughter’s reading
abilities. Truth was, my daughter was very advanced in her reading and so I let
her know she was not alone. But this mom was going to make sure I understood
that her daughter was superior and went on to tell me how she could read the
newspaper. At that point the Holy Spirit was nudging me to be quiet and so I shut
up. But what I learned from this experience was don't fall in the trap of
bragging on my kids. My daughter could also read the words in the newspaper,
but did she comprehend half of what she was reading—no. And neither did hers…LOL!!
I’ve had the experience of being in a car for close to 2 hours
with a sister who bragged about her daughter almost the entire ride. I
tried several times to redirect the conversation to something else, but she kept
bringing it back to her daughter. At first it was okay, but after about 45
minutes of it, I was tired of listening and the temptation to talk about my
daughter arose. (Praise God I did not give into the temptation.) And after an
hour of it, I began to pray for us both. There is something very wrong when we
can talk about achievements in life for any length of time and God does not
come up in the conversation or failure or a misstep. (There is no such thing as a
perfect child because there is no such thing as a perfect parent.) No matter
how hard we have worked, our husbands or children, apart from Christ it just
could not have been done. But insecurity and competition will help us to forget
this great truth.
Sisters, be very careful how much you talk about yourself
and your family. Be more interested in the lives of others. Yes, there are
times when we need to talk to a listening ear. But it is never to be in the realm of braggadocios
pride. That is not of God.
Whenever we monopolize a conversation then we risk the
chance of a missed opportunity to be of service. Maybe the person you are with
has a heavy heart and they could use an encouraging word, or you will be led to
pray for them in a new way from their conversation.
Mostly competition reigns in our hearts and minds. We may
not say anything out loud, but our actions speak volumes. If you are jealous of
what God is doing in someones life, or what they have, the problem is not them—it’s you. If you
judge God by what He does for someone else—you have a huge problem.
Jesus tells us that the world will know that we belong to
Him, buy the way they see us love on each other. Jealousy and competition have no room for love.
The gifts and talents in the Body is to make us whole and
able to function and achieve God’s will. We should be happy to see a sister
move forward in life and able to cheer her on.
When we purpose to compliment others in their achievements
and even something as simple as telling them how nice they look or how good
they smell, then it forces us to not be so consumed with ourselves, or envious. We were made to fit together and complement each other in all that we do. Amen!
Until next week...
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