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I recently came across a statement that really spoke to my heart: “Don’t measure yourself with another man’s coat.”

If you’re anything like me, there are times when you spend far too much energy comparing yourself to someone else. The danger in doing this is that there will always be someone who seems to be doing better or worse than you. Measuring yourself by others is a sure path to frustration and discontentment.

As a pastor, one of the worst things I can do on a Sunday evening is scroll through Facebook and look at the posts from other churches. Before I realize it, I’m comparing our Sunday to everyone else’s. John Welch once said, “You can’t clear your own fields while counting the rocks on your neighbor’s farm.” That’s true in ministry, and it’s true in life.

We must realize that true success and failure are not determined by others—they are carried within ourselves. Success is simply doing what God has for you, to the best of your ability, without worrying about what everyone else is doing. The more we dwell on another’s success, the more we hinder our personal progress and joy. We become enslaved to comparison instead of being content in our calling.

It was a good day when I finally accepted that I am who I am, and I cannot be anyone else. God made me who I am, on purpose and for a purpose.

“But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.” – Galatians 6:4