Loving the self-indulgent lie...

We as people have a legitimate issue with ourselves. Somehow we have fallen in love with one of the biggest lies out there, and we are so blindly devoted to it, we look truth in the face and tell truth “Nah… you can’t be true. You just don’t understand.”
 
What have we found so alluring?
We find ourselves believing that our worth as an individual is not only directly linked to someone else’s identity but at times even determined by it.
 
Ever made a statement like:
She’s so beautiful… I will never look that good.
He’s such a leader…. People will never follow me that way.
If she got cheated on, how will I not be cheated on?
 
Do you see it? We start with a statement about someone ELSE and somehow end it with a statement about MYSELF. How and why did we ever decide those two things go together?!?!
 
We must learn that the statements can end with a period rather than a comparison:
Wow! She’s beautiful!
He’s such a great leader. I’m so glad people get to learn from him!
Wow, it must be hard for her right now.
 
I know. We’ve all heard we shouldn’t do that, and so maybe if our issues with comparison identity fraud stopped with external appearances or popular personality traits, I wouldn’t be writing about it.
But as much as we love to compare and self-deprecate we also love to compare and self-indulge.
Neither habit is healthy, but the latter can find itself qualifying as, at the least, ignorance and the worst, cruel, depending on the thought process.
 
What am I talking about? What self-indulgent comparisons do we make? Ever thought this:
I would never go to a party like that.
I would never wear something like that.
I would never say something like that.
And our brain automatically fills in the following blank that we are too polite to think… I’m better than that.
 
Do you see what we ultimately do?!
We decide our worth by whether we are found above someone else or below in the court system of our brain.
 
Someone else is better than me in class? My value just got bumped.
I see someone that I feel justified in judging? My value just rose a couple points.
 
It’s time to start believing the truth instead of the lie. Believing it will lead to loving it which will lead to acting on it.

I am who I am.
Your beauty doesn’t diminish my own.
Your success doesn’t lessen my accomplishments.
Your victory doesn’t weaken my triumph.
Your poor decision doesn’t strengthen my intelligence.
Your clothing choices don’t increase my value.
Your existence has no bearing on my inherent value.
… Just like my existence has no bearing on your inherent value….
 
We are created by God, equal.
Equal in value, in worth, in every single aspect of life.
We are created by God for equality not comparison.
It’s time we start acting like it and necessitate our peers to do the same.

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