All of my life, I have heard it said, “You are only as strong as your weakest link!” My humble understanding of this quote means, every “link” on your chain (metaphorically speaking) is important, needs to be proficient in the mission of the organization, and makes a positive contribution if success is to be realized. Is one member more important than the other when it comes to the team, the business, the family, the church? In unison, we all should be responding, “No!” As humans, we have a tendency to make comparisons to others! Can I jump as high as him? Am I as successful as her? Do people like him more than me? Are we as good as . . .?
You get the idea! While we all have asked these questions and so many more, may we seek to realize how special we really are! “Special,” in this context, does not mean “better than,” but means we are “created by Him.” We should never seek to elevate ourselves over others, but we should never think less of ourselves to the point our unworthiness impacts our ability to grow in our service to the church or feel useless. Nor, should we ever give someone permission to make comparisons of us to others or make us feel less.
The “other side of the coin” is do we put ourselves in an arbitrary position to attempt to make judgments of “who is better” when making comparisons to others? May we not be so arrogant that we can “grade” others when making evaluations of everyone within our team, business, family, or church when they are doing their best! Do we sometimes have a tendency to voice our opinion of others? When we do, may our complaints or opinions be followed with an attempt to help those we are complaining about or comparing to others. At the end of the day, as the church, we are all on the same team opposing Satan!
How many of us feel we are “not worthy,” or have been told we are less than our peers to the point we start to believe it!? May we remember we are all capable of making contributions! I Corinthians 12:12-14 says, For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. For in fact the body is not one member but many.
The church is so blessed to have so many hard workers. We should encourage one another, not compare one to another! We shouldn’t attack or fuss at others just because they want to do more or may not be “performing” to our standards. May we never “come on big when we are feeling small!”
As Christians, we may feel we are “turf managers” and seek to tell others to stay in their lane when it comes to their service to the Lord’s Kingdom. We may even remind those overzealous brethren to “stay in their lane!” It might be okay to say that, but may we never crowd them off the road. For those who have responded to the Scriptures, are all capable in making a contribution (Matthew 28:16-20).
