I don’t know about you, but I am constantly feeling like I just do not measure up. I’m not as smart as most people, I’m not as pretty as the world says I should be, I’m not as thin as the world says I need to be, I have not acquired the things the world says I need, I don’t have a large bank account, I don’t travel the world, I don’t, I don’t…

If I were to listen to what the world tells me I need to go crawl into a hole and stay there. I should be ashamed to show my face. The worldview is so mixed up and to be honest so confusing that you just wonder; what do I need to do? I’m not sure why this is surprising since scripture makes it very clear that in the last days wrong will be right, and right will be wrong. I don’t know about you but it sure looks like that’s where we are these days.

Here is what scripture tells us: 2 Timothy 3:1-31 “Be sure of this. In the last days, hard times will come. 2 People will love themselves. They will love money. They will talk about themselves and be proud. They will say wrong things about people. They will not obey their parents. They will not be thankful. They will not keep anything holy. 3 They will have no love. They will not agree with anybody. They will tell lies about people. They will have no self-control. They will beat people. They will not love anything that is good.”

Does this sound like our world to you? I have come to the realization that I do not want to be like the world, I don’t want my values to be dictated by the world values, I don’t want my opinion of myself to be dictated by what the world says etc… I want to be so in love with Jesus, his way, and all that he has for me that this worlds thinking doesn’t come into my mind or affect my behavior.

Mark 12:30-31 says this: “30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b] There is no commandment greater than these.”

So, I look away from the world, and I look inward at myself and I asked these questions “do I love God with all my soul, my mind, my strength and do I love my neighbor as I love myself?” If there is no greater commandment than this I need to pay attention to it, and I need to do these things with everything that is in me. He would not have said to do these things if it was impossible, the Holy Spirit in me makes it possible!

I see young girls trying so hard to look like a grown woman, trying to make sure their bodies meet some expected look. So many have eating disorders and such because they feel there is no other way to get “that look.” And the pressure that is put on kids to succeed, to get stuff, as much stuff as they can. The world is in love with the stuff, bigger houses, better cars, the latest name brand whatever. Sadly they forget that we did not enter this world with stuff. We came naked into the world and when we leave it, we leave all our stuff here for someone else to enjoy.

I think if we all started loving our neighbor as ourselves, showing kindness to anyone and everyone we come in contact with and stop trying to get there, wherever there is, we would see a change in our world. We need to be an example to the world. We all struggle with something, feeling like we are not “enough” is not what God intended for us. So, when I have a moment where I have compared myself to someone, my stuff to their stuff and I feel I fall short, I remember whose I am; I remember I am dearly loved and that I have all I need in him.

There will always be someone prettier, more accomplished, smarter and higher up the worldly ladder than I am and you know what I am perfectly okay with that. Knowing I have a Father in Heaven who loves me, who died for me, who is always present and always on my side, is enough!