You're Different

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The other day I was reading the "How to Read Matthew" preface to the Book of Matthew in my old NIV Student Bible, and I came across the following instruction: "First, consider how it differs from the other three Gospels; this will give you some idea of Matthew's distinct purpose."

First, consider how it differs; this will give you some idea of its distinct purpose. 

Here, in this obvious but all-too-overlooked advice, I think there is something to be said about how we should consider our own differences. 

We often look at differences as a bad thing. I'm always telling my kids, "comparison is the thief of joy," and I stand by that mantra. 

However, when we are able to see our differences not as ways that we are less than or greater than those around us, but rather as different textures, different brushstrokes, different colors, different mediums and techniques (all used for their unique beauty) in God's divine gallery, we can compare, or "consider how we differ" in a whole new light. 

Have you ever considered your "distinct purpose"?

Some of us dwell on this self-actualization, this highest of Maslov's needs, a bit too much. We can definitely turn our pursuit of purpose into an idol, can't we?

The truth is, despite all the agonizing we pour into their discovery, our purposes are all the same: to worship God. At the end of the day, that is the one thing. 

But just like I, as a mother of five, get a unique joy from hearing "I love you" in each of my little ones' individual voices and experiencing the ways each of their love languages is expressed in the ways they show me their love, God, I believe, is honored through the potpourri of ways his children love Him. 

How do you worship Him?

Perhaps you attend church, and you worship for 20 minutes before the preacher gives his Sunday sermon. That is one of my favorite kinds of worship. 

But worship isn't just singing the right songs; it's how we live our lives. Worship folding laundry. Worship buying groceries. Worship in the carline and the commute. Worship when your kid or the referee or the politician on TV says or does something flabbergasting. Worship while you sweat. Worship in the shower while you wash the sweat away. Rinse. Repeat.

Worship in the day-to-day endeavors that we all endure. 

But also . . .

If you never have . . .

Or it's been a long time . . . 

Or you've only engaged in the joy-thieving kind of comparison thus far . . .

Consider how you differ; it just might give you some idea of the distinct ways you can raise your I love Yous to your maker, in your own little voice, with its unique tone and inflection, cracks and scratches and stutters and all. 

For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10 NIV

Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen. 1 Peter 4:10-11 NIV

Ascribe to the Lord, all you families of nations, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name; bring an offering and come before Him. Worship the Lord in the splendor of His holiness. 1 Chronicles 16:28-9 NIV

Exalt the Lord our God and worship at His footstool. He is holy. Psalm 99:5 NIV

I will say to the north, 'Give them up!' and to the south, 'Do not hold them back.' Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth--everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made. Isaiah 43:6-7 NIV



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