I often find myself relating to Peter, friend and disciple of Jesus. He was honest and said some things that I feel...like "what about him? (pointing to John)" when Jesus was telling him what he expected of Peter. I do the same thing. As I muddle through my life and push through difficulty, I tend to look at others and wonder, "how is it that their life is so much easier?"  "Why do they get to be so happy when I'm fighting to stay afloat?"

Jesus told Peter in essence, "What is it to you? Don't worry about [others], you follow me." (John 21:22) Ouch! So I don't get to look at other people's lives and compare? Or look at another church and compare their success with the lack of ours or their failure in comparison to my success? What do I do? Follow what God has for me. Focus on my (our) call and apply all resources in that direction. Today's Church spends way too much energy wondering why we can't be like someone else or why other people don't try to become more like us. In truth, God has created a uniqueness to each of us, individuals and churches, and desires that we strive for faithfulness out of that call.

I recently read a quote by Steven Furtick: The reason we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our behind the scenes with everyone else's highlight reel. Sometimes we compare our inward struggles with everyone's public persona--what they want us to see. Seems we always get into trouble when we look outside ourselves for validation, direction or comparison. No wonder Jesus says not to.