Have you seen my new About page? It shows that my new posting schedule makes Thursday the day I share more personal posts—where I’m open about my struggles in trying to live like Jesus. I hope these articles clearly document how to practically live like Jesus daily!
I have a habit of seeing myself as equal to many people—even people I don’t like.
There is a man I know who I severely disrespect. I am a glass half-full sort of guy, so I don’t look at him with utter hopelessness like others do; but I still don’t appreciate the direction of his life, how it lacks intentionality and purpose.
But unfortunately, I feel we are more similar than I would like to believe.
We both don’t make that much money (not enough to provide all that we want for our family. We both don’t have respectable jobs (meaning, we’re not CEOs who are raking in the cash). And we both have no clue about where life is going to take us next.
We are similar in those aspects, so I have problems interacting with this man. Every time we talk, a piece of me dies inside because I believe this man and I are on the same level, and I don’t like that.
Don’t you feel that way with certain people?
Aren’t there people in your life you don’t respect, and yet, feel like you are oddly equals with? Doesn’t that feeling of similarity with these people disturb you?
This negative feeling lingers in the back of my mind every time I approach this man. It haunts me. Sometimes I think others view me in the same light that they view this man.
Yet the reality I had trouble recognizing was that this man and I aren’t equals.
My wife was the one who woke me up to this truth. She said, “You and him are not the same. You’re nowhere near being like him.”
The moment she spoke that, I believed it. All the faults in my thinking shined with clarity.
You see, I only saw this man and I as equals because we shared similar external circumstances, meaning that we both didn’t have the jobs we wanted and we both didn’t have much money.
Yet, the fundamental difference between both of us was our character.
Though we don’t have much money or better jobs, I’m different than him because I have the heart and the personality that gives me purpose and direction with my life. I know how to turn those troubling circumstances around. I am committed to making those circumstances better for my family.
But he isn’t.
Many of us can fall into the trap of seeing ourselves as equals to the people next to us, just because we’re in the same place at the same time. But just because our external circumstances line up doesn’t mean we’re the same person. It doesn’t mean people can lump us and the people we don’t respect together.
What sets us apart is our character—or in other words, where we choose to lay the foundation of our personality, heart, and moral traits.
That’s what my wife was pointing to when she said we were different. The man and I were both committed to two entirely different things, and that makes us different.
Here’s what I’m getting at: stop thinking you’re similar to people just because of your life situations.
It’s your values and moral foundation that truly makes you similar to the people around you. It’s who you are, not what you do, that relates you to others.
Think about that next time you interact with your co-workers or family members. Occupying the same space in life doesn’t make you equal to them. That’s not the similarities you want to dwell on.
The only similarities worth noting are the ones that deal with the essence of who you are—not what your outward circumstances say about you. That’s the stuff of meaning. That’s where you really want to lay your bricks.
Photography by Mikaela Hamilton
If you liked this article, check out:
Stop Asking Others What They Do for a Living
8 Questions to Ask When Discerning God’s Will
How to Be Intentional with Your Life When You Have No Clue What to Do
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