Victims of Comparison

Comparison.

We are raised in a society that establishes worth and value on comparison. On the one hand, comparisons can be healthy. For example, when we see someone's prayers being answered and we have yet to see ours answered, we can be assured that God has no favorites and what He does for one He WILL do for another, guaranteed. He is also very careful about timing...to Him timing is everything!

But where we get in trouble is when we estimate personal worth and value upon the comparison of another's success or gifts. If we feel like we don't measure up, we feel condemned, insecure, and intimidated. If we feel we do measure up or are even better than what we see, we are faced with pride, arrogance, and at the extreme self-idolatry. Most of us, however, suffer from the former...the feeling of not measuring up. When this happens, we either start to implode, "What's wrong with me? I'm no good. I can't do anything. I have nothing to give that's of any help...what are they thinking? I'm so embarrassed..." or we explode and cut the other down, "Who does he/she think he/she is? She's not so much. I know something else about him...he’s really not that good…"

Personally, I struggle with the implosion more than any other. "What did I do this time? Lord, I know You're faithful. And I see how you are blessing so-and-so and how You have answered their prayers...did I do something wrong? What's going on? I know that You are righteous and just and that You do give us the desires of our hearts...but why haven't I seen it yet? Am I missing something?"

This type of mentality is not uncommon...I'm sure each of you can relate on one end of the spectrum or the other in some way, depending on your personality bent...it's going on in my physical body and even in the church as a whole...

Example: The lymph system is the primary source that supports our immune system. Other organs are involved in supporting the immune system, but lymphs are the main component. Our adrenal glands are connected with the immune system, but their primary function lies with the endocrine system, i.e. hormones. Their primary target is to help the body handle changes, adapting to climate, trauma, or stress (physical, emotional, etc.) while keeping the hormones glands (thyroid, reproductive organs, etc.) flowing in unison during the transition as if the change never occurred.

However, let’s say the adrenals decide that they don’t think their position in the body is of any real value. They see the immune system as something more worthy, after all, "The immune system protects the body from intruders! We just sit here and are called only when there's a stress...the lymph system is on the go all the time! Protecting the body from infection and toxins! What a valiant position! That's better than sitting around and waiting for crisis...we want to be more than this. We want to be important…let’s use our energies to protect the body! Let’s be the immune system!"

When the adrenals take over the immune system function as its key focus...they are at work ALL the time, something they were not created to do. As a result, they become fatigued, drained...and when the time comes for the body to have to make some major changes in the face of stress...the adrenals are ill-equipped to do the very thing they were designed to do. They fail. With this failure, the body begins to slowly fall apart...the endocrine system shuts down. Without the steady flow of hormones, the other organs begin to disintegrate and isolate from working with others. Instead of supporting another organ, they are forced to focus on just staying afloat on their own!

That seems to happen with our church today and in us as individuals. Not all of us were created to be lymph nodes. We were not designed to be on the go at all times. If we try to do something we were not designed to do, we fail to do the things we are good at and the Body suffers. Some churches were not designed to support missions and be hands and feet for the Gospel…they were designed to be an organ that keeps the body of Christ healthy from the inside out. But the hands and feet are not of any greater value than the heart and lungs. There is no comparison of which one is more valuable than the other. All form the perfect unity of the Body’s function when working in the area of their design.

But how do we know what “body part” we were created to be? After all, we get worth and value from what we see? Celebrated positions of athletic or oratory talents seem to be the best positions. We want to be “the best,” right? And, once we know what “body part” we are, can we see ourselves as being valuable, even if our society seems to say otherwise?

The prayer that I have been praying for myself, and I think this goes for the church as a whole, is that the Lord give us a vision for who we are as He designed us to be. "Who do You say that I am, Lord?" If we have a vision of who God has created us to be, we will be able to see the race God set for us, not the race for someone else. For, without a vision, the people perish (ref. Prov. 29:18).

But this doesn’t complete the circle. Can we accept the fact that we may not be what we have been led to believe is of more value? Once we receive the vision of who we are, the next prayer is that God grant us the grace to accept what we see…that we appreciate who we are as of incredible worth and value by simply being all that God said we can be. Then, we can run that race with all of our hearts!

So, as an adrenal gland, we can be patient and satisfied to be the organ that holds things together and goes to work at important times of crisis to keep things running…and be glad that we can rest when all things are peaceful. As apart of the lymph system, we can rejoice that we have been instilled with the strength to go, go, go and be up at all times for the glory of the God, Who has given us His strength to run a long distance race…never a dull moment and never worrying about boredom!

May our vision be so fixed on Christ, Who has within Him hidden all the mysteries of God and reveals them to us by His Spirit Who is at work in our hearts. (ref. Col. 1:26-27) may we strive to run our races that God delighted to set for us. May we run with perseverance and gladness knowing that we are bringing our Creator glory and honor and praise! Amen.

That They May Be One: Part Four

(This is an exegetical article from Eph. 4:1-16 NASB. I have divided it into several parts. For the best reading, get out your Bibles and read the passage, then read these blogs. Enjoy!)

“…we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by the waves…of every wind of doctrine…but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects... (of) the head, even Christ.” (vs. 14-15)

This pursuit of unity is easier said than done. When Paul was ministering and writing these letters, he was confronting thousands of years of a trained thought that Jews and Gentiles were unequal; the Hebrews were God’s elect, and the Gentiles were impure.

We, likewise, have been raised to believe, not about Jews and Gentiles, but that our individual denomination is “the right way.” Whether we have believed a certain way for decades or only several years, our predispositions of right and wrong, as biased as they may be, will take time to readjust with the truth of God’s Word.

But we mustn’t lose heart in the diligence to preserve unity in the bond of peace. For if we are one body, then we each have been uniquely fitted with our particular preference or ability to “fit and hold together” this Body of the Church. We were destined to “work together with each individual part” so that we may “grow in love,” and thereby uniting in purpose to be a light in a dark world (ref. vs. 16; Matt. 5:14).

My personal battle with illness, to realign my individual members of my body, will not be an overnight success. In fact, it could take several years to fully retrain my organs to “rethink” in the way that they should, not against each other, but in agreement with all parts of the unit. But you can bet that I will be diligent in administering the medication to make sure that my body has every opportunity to adjust itself in accordance with the truth, that it was made to work as one and not as many units.

We too, as believers in our One God, our One Christ, our One Spirit, the three in One Deity, must strain to persevere in our love of Him, of His Word, and of His Body, our fellow brethren in the Lord.

That They May Be One: Part Three

(This is an exegetical article from Eph. 4:1-16 NASB. I have divided it into several parts. For the best reading, get out your Bibles and read the passage, then read these blogs. Enjoy!)

“To each of one of us, grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift… ‘He ascended on high…and He gave gifts to all men.’…He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints…to the building up of the body of Christ…” (vs. 7-12)

What Paul is referring to in this segment is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus and the significance that Christ’s ascension means for anyone, who believes in Him. What Christ did on the cross, and the victory that He won on our behalf, goes far beyond simply the redemption from sin. He rose on high and was given all authority, riches, and honor (ref. Jn. 17:2), which He so gladly shares with us.

These gifts are not what you would find under the Christmas tree or by your birthday cake; they are those related to the power and authority of spiritual things and for the use of building up the Body of Christ. I’ll give you an example. Have you ever noticed how you can just do something naturally and easily that maybe someone else has to really work hard at to do well? Or have you noticed an inner itch of your heart, in which you really hurt with others, or have a passion for learning, or you strongly desire to reach the lost? That inner itch, my friend, is a gift from Christ, which He earned for you when He died and rose again!

Paul differentiates, here, what different types of these gifts include. There are others, but in this letter, he mentions five. First, the apostle: these are men and women who have an eagle’s eye view of the Body of Christ as a whole, and could be considered the pastors of pastors. Then, there’s the prophet: these are the preachers, the mouths of the Church, who are natural at exhorting and challenging the believer in his walk of faith.

Third, there are the evangelists: the hands and feet, who meet the lost wherever they are and bring them the Gospel of Jesus. Fourth, there are the pastors, the shepherds of the flock, our ministers. They could be considered the heart of the church because they remain within the church walls a watch over those, who are already saved, ministering to the needs of fellow believers. Whenever you have a hurt or a need, they will be there. Finally, you have the brains! These are the teachers of the Word, who diligently study and dig out its truth for others to glean from and grow in their knowledge of Christ.

Can you imagine how effective this body would be if the brain had a new revelation, but the mouth refused to speak it? The truth that the brain had found would be lost, stuck in the silent place of thought and imagination, unable and ineffective to reach the ears of eager listeners. What about the hands and feet? What if they longed to help a homeless drunkard on the street, but the brain didn’t think it was a good idea? Can you see how the Church would lose her ability to follow Christ’s command of making disciples (ref. Matt. 28:18)? She wouldn’t be able to do anything! If her bodily members don’t cooperate and appreciate the abilities of each part of her frame, she is incapacitated, bound in a lost mess of confusion.

This is why Paul is so adamant about the importance of unity. “Unity of the faith” he calls it, “to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ…” (ref. vs.13) We are all members of Christ’s body. We are all gifted with our unique abilities and talents, in every denomination and worship preference; these abilities are meant to build us up as believers and reach the nations of this world on behalf of our Head, the Lord Jesus Christ.

That They May Be One: Part Two

(This is an exegetical article from Eph. 4:1-16 NASB. I have divided it into several parts. For the best reading, get out your Bibles and read the passage, then read these blogs. Enjoy!)


“Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of your calling with which you have been called…being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”(Eph. 4:1-3 NASB)

In the original context, Paul was writing from a prison in either Caesarea or Rome, having been arrested for his evangelical pursuits of the Gentiles, or those who were not Jews. He explains earlier in his letter that this is the call, which Christ Himself had given to him; and furthermore, that Christ had disclosed a profound revelation of God’s ultimate design in sending Jesus to the cross: that both Jew and Gentile alike have equal access and reward in the kingdom of heaven. This was news to the Jews, for the popular view in that day was that the Jew had a special purpose in God’s eyes and the Gentiles were only secondary. In other words, there were two different Bodies of Christ, the more perfect Jewish Church and the lesser glorified Gentile church. This is the doctrine that Paul wanted to address.

But if you really think about it, are we so far estranged from this culture that we cannot grasp how we hold this very same mentality, just in a different form? Do we not believe that our certain denominations “have it right” and that others, somehow, don’t? Do not the Catholics and Protestants, Lutherans and Baptists, hold some kind of arms-length distance from each other thinking, “Oh, they believe that Jesus is the Son of God, but we know the proper form of worship…” We cannot read this text with our noses held high in the air, and scoffing at the bigotry of these first century Jewish Christians. We, the Church of the 21st century, struggle just as they did and we would be wise to listen to what our Gentile Apostle has to say to us regarding this dilemma.

“There is one body, one Spirit…one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all…” (vs. 4-6)

There is one body of Christ. Not two or three, not Gentile or Jewish, not Presbyterian and Assembly of God and Church of Christ; we are all one Body of Christ. We belong to a God who is God over all, in and through all things (ref. vs. 6).

Paul stresses the words one and all in this passage, much like the three Musketeers. Remember their chant? “All for One and One for All.” What was the message of their vow? That all would fight and die for the one; and the one, each individual Musketeer, would lay down his life for all of the others. The Musketeers had the right idea. They understood that, once they entered the service of the king, they were no longer individual Frenchmen, with skills, professions, lives, or ideals of their own; they resigned every part of their identity to form the one identity of the band of Musketeers that would serve each other for the sake of the throne.

Now, I do not believe that Paul is suggesting that we resign our individuality and personal preferences. In fact, he later discloses how vital our distinctiveness of character is a key component of Christ’s purpose in the church. (ref. vs. 11) However, what Paul is saying is that, once we take on the shed blood of Jesus, once we recognize Him as our Lord and King, we resign our individuality and divisiveness associated with sin, and we are united in the bond of Christ’s body; we are Christ’s Disciples and people of His Church.

Our purposes shift from glorifying self, to living for the God who is the All in All. We submit to the Truth that life is not about us, or our personal agendas and pursuits. It’s about Jesus; it’s about our God the Father who rules far above the Universe. It’s about serving our King and serving His people, our fellow brethren in Christ.

That They May Be One: Part One

(This is an exegetical article from Eph. 4:1-16 NASB. I have divided it into several parts. For the best reading, get out your Bibles and read the passage, then read these blogs. Enjoy!)

“So, there have been no improvements.” “No sir.” The voice on the other end of the receiver was silent for several moments. Then, I heard the low, drawn out exhale of a sigh of frustration. “Well,” my doctor said, “Let’s stick with the regimen for now. We’ll up your thyroid medication in five days. We may have to increase your cortisol, to keep your adrenal glands balanced. Stay away from all sugar, your blood sugar (pancreas) will get off. Do that, and call me next week.” “Yes, sir. Thank you, Dr. Turner.[1]”

I put down the phone, and stared out my window at nothing in particular. These weekly phone conversations have been going on for weeks and try as we might, my doctor and I have been unable to make much progress with the medication I’ve been taking. I, too, let out a long sigh of frustration, holding back another tear. Oh, I’m not really that discouraged; I know God is in control and He will deliver me, eventually. I’m just weary. Weary of the long drawn out process of attempting to realign a body that is prone to work against itself.

I suffer from a condition[2] that is unique in many ways. My internal organs either work isolated from the rest of the body, against other parts of the body, or just plain don’t work at all. My symptoms are numerous, but some of the most prominent ones are flu-like in nature: extreme fatigue, muscle pain and weakness, dizziness, and nausea. I am confined to the premises of my home and am unable to leave until the doctor gives me his release. In truth, I really don’t have the desire to leave the house; I am just plain too tired. So, I busy myself here, when I have the energy to, and write letters and emails to others, work on my schoolwork, do little chores around the house, like laundry and, on better days, cook a meal for my folks. I would love to do more, but frankly, I just can’t.

Unfortunately, my condition is not an isolated incident. In fact, it is far more prevalent and widespread than most people realize. This condition, in which members of one body work independently of others, work in opposition of others, or just decide to sit back and do nothing, is happening in the Body of Christ today.

How is this manifested; or what are the symptoms of this predicament? We see churches split as a result of a deep offense; daily hundreds of pastors retire from burn out[3]; and missionaries are being forced to return home from their mission field(s) for lack of sufficient funds to keep them there. Hundreds of church hoppers literally “hop” from church to church, trying to find the church that fits their idea of “proper doctrine.”

Then, you have the battle of the denominations, Catholics verses Lutherans, Charismatic verses Evangelicals, Anglicans verses Baptists, and so on. We live in a society where the term “Christian” is the generic word, which refers to a “good moral citizen,” and the term “Church” implies to bigotry, judgment, and legalism. Oh, we have wonderful church bodies that are prospering, but they are few and far between.

The overall lack of unity in the Body of Christ has not completely prevented her from effectiveness in fulfilling the Great Commission, but she is far less powerful than she could be. Like me, she is able to do a little, but she has the potential to do so much more if only her body would work together just as Christ had designed her to.

Though our church condition seems bleak at present, our tendencies toward religious prejudice is nothing new; the church has seen it in the past. In fact, our Body of Christ has overcome thousands of years of division tracing all the way back to its earliest establishment. This propensity of disunity is exactly what the Apostle Paul is discussing in this text, taken from his letter to the Ephesians.


[1] The name of the doctor has been changed for privacy purposes.

[2] Though I have yet to receive an all-inclusive diagnosis for the root cause of my illness, I suffer from a myriad of conditions including: Adrenal Insufficiency; Blood Sugar Abnormalities (associated with the pancreas); Chronic Fatigue (associated with low function of the thyroid); PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome); POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome-associated with the heart); and Gilbert’s Syndrome (dysfunction of the liver).

[3] Fifteen hundred pastors leave the ministry each month due to moral failure, spiritual burnout, or contention in their churches. (http://kiwirev.wordpress.com/2006/10/15/pastors-burn-out/)