Comparisons

Does everyone struggle with this?  It would seem to me, that many of us do, too many.

I am nearing the end of a great book I am reading : A Confident Heart by Renee Swope.  As I am closing out this book for a review later this week, I was reading too  much great stuff to just leave it in the book.  I knew I had to share.  Maybe I had to share so it would take deeper root in my heart.

Renee talks so pointedly, in this book, about finding confidence in God.  She talks about triggers that spark our insecurity.  So true!  But not sure I ever look for those.  We need to be on the lookout for those triggers so we can face our issues head on, and see them coming.

I loved that she talked about Eve too – and asked if we ever thought about Eve being insecure?  Have you?  I never have and I have spent a good amount of time in various Bible studies talking about her.  That she allowed Satan to get between her and God, and that allowed the insecurity to take root through the shadow Satan cast.  Also, that in the garden, when she had it all, she was already comparing…. herself with God. 

So ladies, we are not fighting a new battle with iPhones, fancy clothes, shiny jewelry & all this stuff – it started in the very beginning.  Eve had it all, no one had more than her, or better than her – only God.  Renee writes that the comparison to God was a foolish one, then she comments “all comparisons are.”  So amazingly true.  Every comparison is foolish – even the ones we make to “seemingly” make ourselves feel good.

She talks about how each time we berate ourselves (“What is wrong with me?” or “Why am I so messed up”….) we are planting seeds of doubt in our minds.  I know I am way TOO guilty of this!  Those seeds of doubt are lies.

Instead, we need to stop and ask why we are feeling like a failure, misfit, or disappointment.  What is the root of what we are currently feeling?  It is not something that is coming from God, because God does not correct like that.  When we talk to ourselves like that we are not affirming who we are in Christ.  We need to stop and claim the truths we know – the truths God gives us in his word :

I am a child of God (John 1:12)

I am a friend of Jesus Christ, as his disciple (John 15:15)

I have been chosen by God and adopted as his child (Ephesians 1:3-8)

This is only a partial list that Renee includes in her book, quoted from Dr. Neil T. Anderson’s book Victory Over the Darkness.

She also reminds us how Satan tempted Jesus in the same way he tempted Eve – however, unlike Eve – Jesus was triumphant over that temptation.   We can be equally triumphant – we have the same weapon he wielded at Satan – THE WORD. 

How often I forget that.  When I am feeling discouraged, fearful, etc – I need to claim those truths from God’s word, those that define me.  Not the words someone has uttered to my ear, but the words of truth spoken into my heart. 

This is a great book, and this is not yet my review!  I hope if you struggle at all with any kind of insecurity, lack of confidence, fear, anything that holds you back – get this book.  I have read many books that aim to help women work through some of these yucky areas – and I really believe Renee has done the best job, I have seen.