By Jim Lange Author of “Bleedership: Biblical First-Aid for Leaders” and “Calming the Storm Within: How to Find Peace in this Chaotic World” (released Dec, 2012). Jim also serves as President of Five Feet Twenty & Chapter President of Truth@Work
Is it live or is it Memorex? Do you remember those commercials? If you do, you’re showing your age. In their ads Memorex was trying to show how crystal clear their audio recordings were. They were trying to convince us that the copy was as good as the original. While this may be true with an audio recording, the same is not true in life.
Abe Lincoln once said, “Everyone is born an original but sadly, most die as copies.” Have you ever wished you were someone else? I think most of us have at some point or another. I remember wanting to be like the most popular kids in school. I also wanted to be like the most athletic player on my basketball team. I can also remember times in which I wanted more money like some of my friends. Can you relate?
Looking back on this saddens me. During those moments, I was not really living…at least not my own life. I was trying to live the lives of others. I’ll bet you’ve had some of these moments too. The problem with this is that we were designed the way we were on purpose and for a purpose. God does not make mistakes.
When we try to be someone else, we are basically telling God that we don’t trust that He knows what He’s doing. God designed each of us to have certain personalities, gifts, abilities, likes and dislikes. The fact is if we are the same as someone else, one of us is not needed. We were meant to complement one another…to work together. When you aren’t being yourself, you leave a hole that only you can fill. So I encourage you to embrace and be thankful for who God made you to be.
Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. Romans 12:4-6a
