Weird . . .
 
Granted this was a highly intellectual and talented group of people, each with a booming personality and an ambitious drive to match. Me, not so much. Their tasks and successes ran circles around my meager accomplishments.
 
Needless to say, I left the gathering wondering what I was doing taking up space on the planet. Well that may be a little dramatic, but you get the point. I didn’t just feel like a zero, but more like a minus thirty-seven.
 
That’s when God showed up.
 
I’m studying the prayers of the Bible and after about 2 years I made it all the way to the book of Job.
 
Oh. Yippee . . . Job.
 
But yes, yippee! In chapter 12, Job has had enough of the accusations and advice from his so-called “friends.” He whips out his wit and announces for all the world, “Surely, wisdom will die with you!”  

Haha!  Good one, Job.
 
He’s on a roll now, and in the next verse he spits out his point as plain as the sun in the sky, “I AM NOT INFERIOR!"  
 
I can almost hear it echo into my lifetime.
 
In God’s mercy, He sent me to this particular story and I knew He saw me! The more I reflected, the more I realized that I could say along with Job. Wisdom will not indeed die with my friends and “I am not inferior.”
 
No, I will never be as clever, articulate, or driven as some of those in the room that day. Their bright minds have considered an idea and moved on it ten times before I've finished deciphering the first one, but that doesn’t make me inferior. They didn’t do anything to gain those natural tendencies. Neither did I do anything to gain a deep-thinking spirit and wit that finally thinks of something to say an hour after the fact. (Anyone else?)

God created each of us equal, just different.
 
God adores those amazing people, and so do I. They’ve accomplished much for His Kingdom, and sharpened and challenged me in big ways. But He also assured me He doesn’t view me as less than. He'll never disregard me or ignore me to be near someone who appears more interesting. My purpose requires a different set of skills and personality type, and I too can say with Job, “I am not inferior!”

Whew. God's gracious validation of my worth comforted me.
 
But the minute relief flooded my heart, conviction rushed in right behind it. I’m not inferior, but I’m also not superior.

Yikes.

I hate to admit it, but there are times I’ve subconsciously placed myself in a rank above others. Despicable I know. I’ve asked God to forgive me and also to prick my conscience anytime I begin thinking down that path.
 
So my friend, I'm wondering, how have you ranked yourself today? Maybe you are feeling invisible. Used. Disregarded. Or perhaps you’re feeling superior, a little higher quality than the person next to you. Both are off. There is a better way.
 
How about we all re-evaluate? Let’s chunk the rating system and level the field. You and I are not inferior. Neither are we superior. We are each loved by God and created in His image, every last one of us.
 
One thing’s for sure, as Jobe Martin says, “In Heaven, no one walks with a limp, and no one walks with a strut.”  So, let’s start today!