We won’t find success in our similarity to others, but in our differences. Instead of comparing ourselves to somebody else and competing with them or pushing ourselves to be just like them, we should try to discover our God-given differences, the things that make us unique. That’s where we’ll really excel. Paul wrote, ‘God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly’ (Romans 12:6-8 NLT). God doesn’t tell us we have to be brilliant at everything, but He does want us to run with the particular set of skills He’s given us and discover where they’ll take us. When God blesses us with a dream, it’ll be fulfilled because we performed with excellence day after day. And we can’t be consistently and reliably excellent if we’re working outside our God-given strengths. It’ll take every bit of skill we have to achieve the dreams He’s given us, and following our talents will give us the best chance to be consistently good at what we do. God hasn’t made us to be copies. Each one of us is an original, with a completely unique makeup of strengths. We might already know what some of them are, and there might be others that we haven’t discovered yet. So let’s keep building on the strengths we have, and enjoy the journey of discovery with God!

What Now?

Get together with a friend, and then each write a list of the strengths you can discern in the other person. Swap lists and have a chat about anything that surprises you or any strengths your friend can see that you weren’t aware of.