Nothing you do will ever be good enough. Everyone has felt it at some point in their life. That feeling of not living up to your expectations, or having a certain inadequacy that makes you feel "less" than others. Being second best...
It’s an easy feeling to bring up when the people in our generation are constantly comparing themselves to others. We will always find attributions that we want but don’t have. It can be in school, your job, family, social life and even fitness. This is a struggle that myself and many others face every day. We are the ones that have such high expectations for ourselves. We disappoint ourselves every time we fail to reach our hardly achievable goals. It’s a constant cycle of hopefulness and disappointment.
You know us, and you might even be one of us. We’re the kids in your class that are upset about a B, because to us, that B might as well be an F. No matter how many people tell us we’re smart or have a great work ethic, it’ll never even occur to us that they might have a point. My 4.0 GPA is the result of taking a lot of tests, and each one I said I could’ve done better on.
It doesn’t matter if we’re state champion athletes, there’s always something we can improve on. No matter how hard we try, someone will always be better. We can go to the gym every day and feel like we will never reach our full potential. We’ll look around and pick out one person that looks a lot better than we do.
In our relationships, we feel as if we could always find a much better replacement. Our friends deserve people that are more fun. We’re runner-ups to our siblings, or the golden children of the world. We even consider the people that could be better for our significant others. We all feel replaceable by much more supportive, beautiful, worthy people. Everyone has at some point considered what it would be like if they were smarter, or more athletic, or better looking.
We may not add up to our own expectations, but despite the prevailing circumstances, we are God’s creation, and in His eyes, we are exactly how we are supposed to be. God does not see second best. We all fail every day, but He loves us regardless. David himself was the eighth choice to be king. Samuel was a prophet of God and completely overlooked David. God confronts him in 1 Samuel 16:7:
“But the Lord said to Samuel, “Have no regard for his appearance or stature, because I haven’t selected him. God doesn’t look at things like humans do. Humans see only what is visible to the eyes, but the Lord sees into the heart.”
This is a continuous theme throughout the Bible. God never chooses the standout. Even Jesus was the resulting son of a teenage pregnancy. He had incredible plans for the "average Joe's" and used ordinary people to do extraordinary things in His name. We are no different. God actually uses those who are at or below average.
"Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important." (1 Corinthians 1:26-28)
Although I encourage you to try your hardest at everything you do, don't place so much value on being the best. We will still be the same people, regardless of any prize or recognition given to us. No matter what the circumstances are, we have made decisions throughout our lives that have determined who we are now. We need to stop trying to be who the world wants us to be and start living how God intedned. Everyone has a God-given talent, and it doesn't have to put you on "America's Got Talent" to be considered great. Find your own greatness and soon you'll find yourself in first place.
