This post seemed to hit home for some folks, so I thought I’d build on it a
little more.

When you see someone who has a skill, position, or level of
accomplishment more advanced than yours, there are two wrong responses
you’ll be tempted to choose:

1. Imitation
Like I said in last week’s post, I’ve wasted too much time trying to borrow
an approach wholesale, without letting the Holy Spirit internalize and
customize the application to fit my gift mix and calling. It’s okay to
imitate, but only through the filter of who God created you to be and what
He’s equipped you to do.

2. Intimidation
While some people are inclined to rip off what they see God doing through
someone else, others take a different but even more counterproductive
approach:

They back down from what God has called them to do because watching
the All-Stars do it makes them feel J.V.

Examples:

You go to a conference at Fellowship Church to be encouraged and
uplifted, and come back more discouraged and downcast than ever
before. You’ll never have a building that modern, a staff that big,
singers that hip, location that accessible, wardrobe as cool as Ed’s…

And so what was meant to pump you up actually brings you down, because
it seems so unrealistic that you’ll ever ascend to that level.

One of my preacher friends actually told me that he doesn’t ever listen to
other preachers because he doesn’t want to be compared to them. It
makes him feel inferior. That’s too bad. He’s too insecure about who he
is in God to let someone else’s strengths enhance his ministry. What a
waste. He’s missing out.

Another one of my friends used to go to a church where the pastor prayed
3 hours a day. Instead of being encouraged because he had a godly pastor,
he kind of felt like: “Well, I’ll never be able to pray that long, so why even
pray at all?”

Don’t take it to that extreme. Instead, think: “Well, if he can pray 3
hours a day, surely I can pray at least 5 minutes a day, then maybe 10,
and one day, who knows?”

Better yet, ask the pastor to mentor you in how to have a rich prayer life.

When you strike up a friendship with someone and eventually discover that
they are much more financially secure than you, do you automatically
calculate all the big breaks and silver spoons that got them there? Or do
you ask them if you can buy them a cup of coffee so they can tell you how
they did it, and help you develop your own roadmap to financial freedom?

When confronted with someone who is better than you, or whose
achievement is bigger than yours, do you hide behind intimidation?

Or do you ride the wave of inspiration?