Free to Be Me: Overcome the Comparison Trap and Discover Who God Made You to BeSample

I love the movie Cool Runnings. Growing up, The Sandlot and Cool Runnings were two of my favorite movies.

In Cool Runnings, we follow the story of the first Jamaican bobsled team to compete in the 1988 Winter Olympics held in Calgary, Alberta - a province of Canada. As a kid, I loved sports movies! This one had humor, competition, and an inspiring storyline.

While there are countless memorable lines in the movie, I think about one scene more often than the others. The scene depicts a conversation between Derice Bannock (captain of the bobsled team) and the team's coach, Irv Blitzer (played by a famous actor named John Candy).

During the scene, Derice shares his disappointment upon learning that his coach cheated when he was an Olympic athlete many years earlier. Coach Blitzer had won at the Olympics previously, but he cheated in a different Olympic competition. The United States Olympic Committee banned Blitzer from competing for or coaching on the USA team in the future.

Blitzer tries to warn Derice, who is passionately pursuing a gold medal. The coach counsels his first-time Olympian with these words: "If you're not enough without it, you'll never be enough with it."

Those words are so powerful. If Derice weren't enough without a gold medal, he would never be enough with it. Blitzer would know as he wasn't enough with one gold medal - he needed more!

I wonder—what is your "it?" As you've gone through this plan, what have you discovered to be the thing you're looking for that only God can give?

Once you have the answer to that question, why don't you complete the sentence below by filling in the blanks?

"If I'm not enough without ________, I'll never be enough with ________."

If you're not enough without a spouse, you'll never be enough with a spouse. If you're not enough without your parent's approval, you'll never be sufficient with their approval. If you're not enough without 10,000 followers, viral posts, the admiration of other people, that promotion at work, or a million dollars in your retirement fund, then you'll never be enough with those things.

Do you believe that if you're not enough without it, you'll never be enough with it?

Friend, we'll never arrive at enough followers, friends, or subscribers if we aren't enough based on who God says we are. What happens on social media cannot satisfy our souls.

In John 10, Jesus told His disciples, "The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out." A few verses later, Jesus continued, "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”

Jesus knows your name. He calls you by name and laid down His life for you because He loves you. That's why you're enough. You are enough because you are known and loved by your Creator and Savior. Pastor and author Derwin Gray profoundly says, "If Jesus knowing your name is not enough, then the whole world knowing your name will never be enough."

I hope you'll spend time today chewing on what you've been looking for to feel like you're enough and how Jesus says you are enough. Tomorrow, we'll wrap up this plan by considering when and how to re-engage with social media and how you'll continue to live out with freedom, confidence, and joy!