Don't compare yourself to Jesus. It's a recipe for low self-esteem, and more importantly, it's a distraction. It helps you miss the point of faith, and your life as a whole.
Tell me if you can relate to this. You love music, you believe in the power of lyrics and melody and you really enjoy singing. But if you're in a room with somebody who is a very talented singer, you don't want to sing.
Her singing is so good it shuts you up. You're self-conscious. You're worried about not being good enough.
Suddenly you don’t think about how much you love music, or how important a certain song is, or the liberation of expressing yourself through an art form. Instead, you're thinking about how you compare to the 'Star'. "I can't sing as well as her," you think, and so you don't sing at all.
But how you compare to the great singer was never the point. The music itself was the point, and it will be again, when you stop ranking yourself.
Any comparison to Jesus it a setup for similar problems. It’ll make the most virtuous person feel like a wretch, like a fool, like a failure. I mean, Jesus walked on water, right? He fed and healed all day every day. He was a miracle-worker. He spoke with the voice of God. And it’s true, you don’t measure up.
If you want to make comparisons, compare who you are today to who God is calling you to be. Compare the life you have now to the life God is offering you going forward.
This is a worthy comparison for two reasons:
1. You’re not supposed to be anybody else. You’re supposed to be you.
2. You’re a work in progress.
The bible tells us, over and over again, that God is working on us. The lessons and stories of scripture are about God creating something new. Growing something. Developing something. Crafting something.
For example:
God's Word is like rain on new grass, "showers on new growth." (Deuteronomy 32:2)
God is a potter, taking the formless and molding something beautiful and useful. (Isaiah 64:8)
God is a metal-worker, purifying and refining people so they can be fit for a greater purpose. (Malachi 3:3)
God is a farmer planting seeds (Matthew 13)
God and Jesus are a foundation upon which faith can be built, like a house (1Cor 10-17).
The message of the Bible is that we're all a work in progress.
Your life is something being grown. Something being built. Something being nurtured. Something being shaped.
If you compare yourself to Jesus, your focus is on what you’re not, instead of on what you’re becoming.
So don't compare yourself to Jesus. Follow Jesus.
Compare yourself to the person God is calling you to be. The person Jesus is showing you how to be. The person the Holy Spirit is preparing you to be.
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The Table is a Christian community of transformation:
from greed toward generosity
from violence toward peacemaking
from isolation toward neighborliness
from fear toward faith