Stop Comparing!
Start Personalizing Other Women: Beth Moore (so long, insecurities)
“We will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original.” Gal 5:26 (message)
When we feel threatened by another women, we need to personalize her…In a segment of Scripture dedicated to drawing a stark contrast between natural living (us on our own) and supernatural living (us empowered by the Spirit of Christ) we’re implored to drop…“…the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival.” Gal 5:21(msg)
Read those words a couple of times and start analyzing the concept in your own experiences. In order to successfully view someone as a rival, we have to depersonalize her to a measureable extent. And make no mistake, it’s a vicious habit. In order to nurse a rival mentality, we almost always view our competitor through a one-dimensional lens. She is not a person. She is a contender. If she got the guy we wanted, we don’t see her in terms of a multilayered life of ups and downs, self -doubt, and second guesses. We depersonalize her into a manipulator or a relationship wrecker. It’s easier to despise her that way. If she got the promotion we sought, she’s the embodiment of selfish ambition in tan hose and black pumps. If she’s more attractive than we feel, she’s only skin deep. We can’t fathom that she’s ever been betrayed or brokenhearted. The list goes on and on, and the concept remains intact. When we go against the grain of our human nature and determine to personalize someone instead, rivalry loses its bedding ground. I’m not suggesting we all buddy up to our betrayers. I do, however, think that if we view potential contenders as equally broken people with real problems, pain, hope, dreams, and disappointments, we will have taken the first step toward unraveling a rivalry. No one lives on this planet long without scars. The women who hurt you- whoever she may be and whatever the circumstance- has also been hurt. Either we can keep stabbing each other back or we can lay down the sword. In Jesus’ name.
Incidentally, I’ve also found it difficult to keep despising someone I consistently pray for. I won’t kid you. The process if really hard at first , especially if betrayal was involved. But consistent and humble prayer eventually has a way of changing our feelings flow when the dam breaks. And it will. When I humble myself enough to pray for someone I feel threatened by- and especially when I muster up the courage to ask God to profoundly bless that person- I end up blessed every single time, and the rivalry gets diffused. I keep 1 Peter 3:9 in the recesses of my mind so I can recall how God can work in a harsh conflict.
“Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.”
It’s how we take the high road when somebody is begging us to mud wrestle with her in the potholes of the low road. The very day I stop praying, the toxins return to my emotions...(my ten cents) your not resonsiable for how she responds to you, you are held accountable for how you respond to her!
“We will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original.” Gal 5:26 (message)
When we feel threatened by another women, we need to personalize her…In a segment of Scripture dedicated to drawing a stark contrast between natural living (us on our own) and supernatural living (us empowered by the Spirit of Christ) we’re implored to drop…“…the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival.” Gal 5:21(msg)
Read those words a couple of times and start analyzing the concept in your own experiences. In order to successfully view someone as a rival, we have to depersonalize her to a measureable extent. And make no mistake, it’s a vicious habit. In order to nurse a rival mentality, we almost always view our competitor through a one-dimensional lens. She is not a person. She is a contender. If she got the guy we wanted, we don’t see her in terms of a multilayered life of ups and downs, self -doubt, and second guesses. We depersonalize her into a manipulator or a relationship wrecker. It’s easier to despise her that way. If she got the promotion we sought, she’s the embodiment of selfish ambition in tan hose and black pumps. If she’s more attractive than we feel, she’s only skin deep. We can’t fathom that she’s ever been betrayed or brokenhearted. The list goes on and on, and the concept remains intact. When we go against the grain of our human nature and determine to personalize someone instead, rivalry loses its bedding ground. I’m not suggesting we all buddy up to our betrayers. I do, however, think that if we view potential contenders as equally broken people with real problems, pain, hope, dreams, and disappointments, we will have taken the first step toward unraveling a rivalry. No one lives on this planet long without scars. The women who hurt you- whoever she may be and whatever the circumstance- has also been hurt. Either we can keep stabbing each other back or we can lay down the sword. In Jesus’ name.
Incidentally, I’ve also found it difficult to keep despising someone I consistently pray for. I won’t kid you. The process if really hard at first , especially if betrayal was involved. But consistent and humble prayer eventually has a way of changing our feelings flow when the dam breaks. And it will. When I humble myself enough to pray for someone I feel threatened by- and especially when I muster up the courage to ask God to profoundly bless that person- I end up blessed every single time, and the rivalry gets diffused. I keep 1 Peter 3:9 in the recesses of my mind so I can recall how God can work in a harsh conflict.
“Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.”
It’s how we take the high road when somebody is begging us to mud wrestle with her in the potholes of the low road. The very day I stop praying, the toxins return to my emotions...(my ten cents) your not resonsiable for how she responds to you, you are held accountable for how you respond to her!
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