{A Time to Speak} Your Life Is Not a Competition

Written by: Victoria MacDonald

Of all the lies Satan uses to discourage women, I think one of the biggest is this: your life is a competition.

He wants you to believe you must be more than you are. More productive, more beautiful, more put-together, more accomplished.

He taunts you to believe you should be less than you are. Less of a mess, less needy, less emotional, less unique.

But the truth is, you are enough. Just the way you are. Just the way He has made you. You are so enough{2 Corinthians 3:5}, and your life is not a competition {2 Corinthians 10:12}.

God is not looking at you saying, “I really wish she’d look prettier and accomplish more, because that is what defines her, and I just don’t think she’s enough.”

No, He is looking at you saying, “My beautiful child, made perfect because of my Son, come closer. Trust me more. Love me more. Let me work more. Let go of all the striving and the worry and the pushing and the competition. You are my Beloved. Rest in that.”

There is grace for the process of sanctification. You are not in charge of your holiness. Your perfection is not in your hands. You make choices to sin or not sin, and you decide how to look to Him after those choices are made, and all of that is important, but if you are truly seeking God and looking to walk in His ways, then you will find Him {Jeremiah 29:11} and you will be made like Him (Romans 8:28-29}.

There is grace for today. You are living where you are supposed to be. You are who God has made you to be and who God is making you to be {Philippians 1:6}. If you are working with all your heart on what He has called you to do, then you are doing the work He wants you to do {Colossians 3:23}. If you are striving to trust Him, to be like Him, to follow His will, and to let Him refine you, then there is nothing more He asks of you.

Your life is not a competition. Stop believing you have to make it one.

As a writer who has battled chronic illness for most of her life, Victoria shares about the suffering she’s enduring, the lessons she’s learning, and the grace in the midst of it all. You can follow her on Instagram (@victoria___anne).