Today

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.--Hebrews 13:8

Honestly, it's not unbelievers I have trouble accepting and loving. It's my brothers and sisters in Christ. It's easy to compare my knowledge to theirs and consider smugly how I have far surpassed them. It's easy to think about all the things I have done for the Lord, and all the things I want to do for the Lord, and all the things I've given up for Him. (Of course, during these times, I conveniently forget that anything I accomplished was by His favor and authority, even if it looked like I was doing it.)

Comparison and competition is the natural human state of mind. And it's not a new problem.

Look at what is before your eyes. If anyone is confident that he is Christ's, let him remind himself that just as he is Christ's, so also are we, writes Paul (2 Corinthians 10:7). He continues: But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding (2 Corinthians 10:12).

I find it pretty amazing that I can simultaneously compare myself with other Christians and find myself to be "farther along" in my faith than they are, but at the same time feel dreadfully depressed and angry at my own inadequacy. That's a messed up combo of mindsets, let me tell you. But I think it's a common thought process: I feel inadequate, therefore I feel better about myself when I compare myself to others; uh-oh, I have caught myself comparing my works and knowledge to my brothers and sisters...ugh, now I feel frustrated with myself because I can't love them well. The cycle is like a hamster wheel, and you feel like you can't get off.

But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:13-14).

When I dwell on my own inadequacy, I am living in the past. When I dwell on my sufficiency, on my good works, I am also living in the past. And, like a hamster wheel, that's getting me nowhere.

God doesn't call us just so we can look back at our past failures and lament, or look at our past triumphs and measure them by others' faith journeys. When we do either of these things, we are seeking to find our identities in things outside the cross of Christ and the inheritance we have in His name. Sure, you probably have done great things for God. Sure, you have also failed and fallen into sin.

But what does that have to do with today?

He certainly has greater things planned for you than your failures, and He will do far more for you than you have yet done to glorify His name.

God's call is always now.

We get lazy and try to draw our identities from the empty well of past works--either our perceived accomplishments, or our perceived failures, or both. That's easier than focusing on now. Obeying the Holy Spirit in the moment takes effort, humility, and submission...things we would rather just skip over.

Though if I should wish to boast, I would not be a fool, for I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me (2 Corinthians 12:6).

If you are submitting to the Holy Spirit today (not yesterday or tomorrow), you don't feel the urgent need to prove your identity in Christ by going around telling everyone what you have done for Him or plan to do for Him. It's just obvious who you are in Him--people can see and hear it.

Who cares what I've done for God or will do for God? Thank the Lord my identity is not dependent upon my service to Him. It is defined instead by the unchangeable character of His love toward me in Jesus Christ.

I don't want to spend my life comparing myself to other believers when I can't even see the whole picture of who they are. I don't want to construct an identity for myself based on "what kind of Christian" I am. I want the deep, unconditional, all-consuming, world-rocking love of Jesus to be what people see in my actions and hear in my voice. I want my identity to be NOW, the only place and time when I can really and truly serve my Savior.