{"id":3748,"date":"2015-03-15T22:38:52","date_gmt":"2015-03-15T21:38:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pender.org.uk\/?p=3748"},"modified":"2018-01-27T21:42:11","modified_gmt":"2018-01-27T20:42:11","slug":"compared-to-others","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2015\/03\/compared-to-others\/","title":{"rendered":"Compared to others"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

A few days later Mary hurried to the hill country of Judea, to the town where Zechariah lived. She entered the house and greeted Elizabeth. At the sound of Mary\u2019s greeting, Elizabeth\u2019s child leapt within her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Elizabeth gave a glad cry and exclaimed to Mary, \u201cGod has blessed you above all women, and your child is blessed. Why am I so honoured, that the mother of my Lord should visit me? When I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped for joy. You are blessed because you believed that the Lord would do what he said.\u201d Mary responded, \u201cOh, how my soul praises the Lord. How my spirit rejoices in God my Savior! For he took notice of his lowly servant girl, and from now on all generations will call me blessed. For the Mighty One is holy, and he has done great things for me. (Luke 1:39-49 NLT)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I know my shortcomings, my failures and my sin. I know that I’m not good enough, and I look at other Christians and think how much better they are than I. But I suppose that that is exactly where Satan wants me to be! It’s very easy to compare myself with others or with perfection and see how awful I am!<\/p>\n

Then I look at really special people and I’m totally amazed. If I feel puny against other Christians, how miniscule I feel against the greats! Mary is an example – a wee girl, a lowly servant girl – and all nations will call her blessed! After all, she carried the baby Jesus inside her, so she should be held in high regard! She is so special – she readily accepts what the angel tells her and moves into the role which God has given her, without a single doubt, without a complaint and with no buts\u2026<\/p>\n

But then God reminds me of something. He tells me that he sent the Holy Spirit to me, that I can be filled with his Holy Spirit. I am a carrier too! I have my\u00a0 shortcomings, my failures and my sin. God sees them and uses them; he takes away my sin. He didn’t choose me because I was perfect: he chose me because I am me. He took notice of me<\/i><\/b> and has plans for me.<\/p>\n

I should not compare myself to others – I just need to compare myself to the me he wants me to be and when I fall short of that, I should not call myself unworthy – all I have to do is to strive harder to be worthy. I am only unworthy when I stop trying to be worthy. That’s what Peter did after he had denied Jesus three times – he didn’t focus on his failure, but moved into his purpose.<\/p>\n

I am chosen, just as Mary was chosen. I have a purpose, just as Peter had a purpose. God is the I AM<\/i><\/b>, and I am me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A few days later Mary hurried to the hill country of Judea, to the town where Zechariah lived. She entered the house and greeted Elizabeth. At the sound of Mary\u2019s greeting, Elizabeth\u2019s child leapt within her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Elizabeth gave a glad cry and exclaimed to Mary, \u201cGod has…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[15,32,38,53,62],"class_list":["post-3748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christian","tag-blessing","tag-failure","tag-god","tag-life","tag-perfection","category-5","description-off"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pfWaLo-Ys","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4531,"url":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2019\/05\/a-shadow-of-my-future-self\/","url_meta":{"origin":3748,"position":0},"title":"A shadow of my future self","author":"Robert Pender","date":"01\/05\/2019","format":false,"excerpt":"[vc_row][vc_column width=\"1\/2\"][vc_single_image image=\"4532\" img_size=\"full\"][\/vc_column][vc_column width=\"1\/2\"][vc_column_text css=\"\"]Many years ago I had a very sore back. It would come and go every few months. First one side would hurt and, just as it was getting better, then the other side would start to hurt. I have a very vivid memory of John\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Christianity"","block_context":{"text":"Christianity","link":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/christian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7173,"url":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2022\/11\/10-life-is-good-and-then-it-gets-longer\/","url_meta":{"origin":3748,"position":1},"title":"10 – Life is good and then it gets longer","author":"Robert Pender","date":"25\/11\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=\"7174\" img_size=\"full\"][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=\"\"]You may have read in my post Bad Sad Glad that I saw the Oncologist last Friday and that my prognosis was not good. Without chemotherapy, I would only have 2 to 3 months to live, with chemo, I was looking at 12-18 months. The Oncologist thought\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7072,"url":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2022\/09\/just-thinking-what\/","url_meta":{"origin":3748,"position":2},"title":"3 – Just thinking what?","author":"Robert Pender","date":"30\/09\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=\"7073\" img_size=\"full\" alignment=\"center\" style=\"vc_box_shadow_3d\"][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Most of the time, all is calm, then I'm in a bit of a storm. I was never a great fan of big dippers and so I always kept away from them. The trouble with this big dipper is that it comes to get me! I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1865,"url":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2010\/11\/can-i-help-mr-cameron\/","url_meta":{"origin":3748,"position":3},"title":"Can I help, Mr Cameron?","author":"Robert Pender","date":"28\/11\/2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I was interested to read that Prime Minister, Mr Cameron, is going to spend \u00c2\u00a32million on measuring the happiness of the British people. Happiness, according to the dictionary is a state of well being and contentment. I do not see a lot of contentment in the society in which we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Christianity"","block_context":{"text":"Christianity","link":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/christian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7406,"url":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2023\/06\/22-questions-questions\/","url_meta":{"origin":3748,"position":4},"title":"22 – Questions, Questions","author":"Robert Pender","date":"01\/06\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"So, did I buy the turbo trainer, or didn't I? Well, the answer to that is easy - it's yes. Yes to both questions!","rel":"","context":"In "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7158,"url":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/2022\/11\/badsadglad\/","url_meta":{"origin":3748,"position":5},"title":"8 – Bad Sad Glad","author":"Robert Pender","date":"20\/11\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]There is no photo at the top of this post because there isn't one which could cover everything that I am going to say. The three weeks since my last post have been a bit busy with appointments and it has been a whirlwind of emotions and news. There have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3748"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3748\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3870,"href":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3748\/revisions\/3870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pender.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}