As Christians, I think too often we get caught up in the image of the perfect Christian. You know who I'm talking about, the person who goes to church every Sunday and seems to know everyone there; the person who is super involved in ministry and leads at least two groups; the person who has their hands up and their eyes closed during worship and seems absolutely enthralled with the Lord. We all know one of those people, right? Except the thing is, we actually don't. There's no such thing as the perfect Christian just like there's no such thing as the perfect person.
The outward image that the "perfect" Christian portrays very well may be representative of their inward relationship with God, but it also might not be. The only one who truly knows where we are in our walk with the Lord is God himself, so stop trying to compare your relationship with Him to other people's relationships that appear "better" than yours.
While it is great to have spiritual role models and mentors, you shouldn't try to make your relationship with God like anyone else's. God loves each and every one of us for our unique and individual differences, and because of that, we all have a unique relationship with Him. While one person may feel God's presence the strongest in church when they're worshipping with arms raised, another person may feel His presence most when they're alone in their room praying to Him.
Some of you may be sitting there and thinking, "Well, I haven't been to church in weeks and can't tell you the last time I cracked open my Bible, so surely she isn't talking to me. I should probably still strive to be more like the perfect Christian."
Wrong.
I am talking to you. If you feel like your relationship with God isn't as strong as you would like it to be then yes, by all means, you should strive to strengthen it. However, that is between you and God and comparing your journey to someone else's isn't going to help.
Striving to be someone else is never going to be fulfilling because, spoiler alert, you're never going to get there. Sure, you can and should look to other Christians for support on your journey with God and for guidance on how you could better your relationship with Him. However, you can see what inspires you and find out what works for you without worrying about how it looks to other people. After all, most people are too worried about how they look to worry about anyone else.
God wants us all to come to Him as we are. He will love us unconditionally no matter what, which is the greatest part of knowing Him. So, as Christians, we need to stop comparing our relationship with God to other people's and, instead, focus on our own personal journey with Him.
