A Better Way to Measure
Do you ever catch yourself sizing up your life—wondering if you measure up to others, or even to your own expectations?
We all do this. We compare ourselves to people, timelines, and unspoken standards. And honestly, measuring isn’t wrong in itself. It can help us grow. But if we’re using bent or broken rulers, the results will always be off.
Scripture is often called the “Canon”—the true rule of faith. It gives us a trustworthy way to understand what really matters. But even then, we can take biblical ideas and twist them into something that misses the heart of the Kingdom.
The disciples did this more than once. In Matthew 18, they were busy ranking themselves, trying to figure out who was the greatest. Jesus interrupted their scorekeeping with a startling correction: “Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” (Matthew 18:3)
He wasn’t talking about childishness. He was inviting them into humility, openness, and the simple clari...
Be Inspired, Not Discouraged
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When you see someone excelling—whether in school, sports, relationships, work, self-discipline, or communication—what’s your first reaction? Do you feel motivated to grow in that area, or do you feel left out, thinking, “Why don’t I have those abilities?” Or worse, “I could never do that”?
Hebrews 12 offers us encouragement for moments like this:
“Since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let’s throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” (Hebrews 12:1)
The heroes of faith in Hebrews 11—people who trusted God against impossible odds—are recorded not to make us feel small, but to inspire us. Their lives are meant to encourage us to step into the faith and purpose God has for us personally.
Unfortunately, it’s easy to fall into the trap of comparison. We look at someone else’s success and either feel like failures or become prideful. As the apostle Paul reminds us, compar...
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