When I Feel Less Than

A third time he asked him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

Peter was hurt that Jesus asked the question a third time.

He said, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Then feed my sheep.”

John 21:17 (NLT)

Some days, I feel less than – as a wife, a mother, a friend, even as a writer. Of course, social media doesn’t help; I tend to measure my competency and abilities up against other mothers, other wives, and other writers. I see parents taking their children on all these outings and wish I had their health and stamina to do the same with my sons. I read books with plots and descriptions that are so good that I question my own skills as an author. Oh, if only I could write like them!

That’s precisely where my problem takes root. When I start comparing myself to others, I simply don’t measure up. I will never be as good as so and so because God didn’t create me to be like them, but to be the best me I can be.

Simon Peter understood that I-feel-like-a-failure sentiment – as a fisherman, but mostly as a disciple. Though he’d professed he would follow Jesus, even unto death, he didn’t keep his word. Not only did he deny Christ, but he did so three times! Yet Jesus sought him out and gently drew him back to Himself. God never stopped loving Peter. That would directly oppose His character. He never stops loving us, even when we feel like we’ve failed. His love does not depend on our merit but on His grace.

When Peter asked Jesus about the future of the other disciples, Jesus reminded Peter not to concern himself with them, but to focus on his own path, the one God had chosen for him. God asks the same of us; we should never measure ourselves against others but strive to be who God designed us to be.