Freedom from Competition-Joel Osteen's awesome!

I woke up today, excited about going to church, then realized I had nothing appropriate to wear, so I decide to watch the live stream of Lakewood Church, which the famous Joel Osteen pastors. It was very uplifting, and I was very happy that I did. He discussed many things, but most importantly to me, the freedom from competition.

Lots of times in our life, we begin to compete with others. We want to look like someone on a magazine cover. We want to dress like rich chicks. We want the big house on the corner. We want a waist like Beyonce's and so forth. The problem is we are trying to be like someone else instead of running our own race. We were not put on earth to compete with others, everyone was designed differently. Don't get upset when you can't lose enough weight to be a size 6 like your coworker or friend, when you're genetically designed to be a size 16. We spend so much time trying to imitate others that we stop ourselves from truly living up to our full potential. You have to be willing to accept that some people will be better in some areas than you are, because everyone is not running the same race. This is why it is important to only be in competition with yourself. It takes a really confident and faithful person to look at the rest of the world, and say "I'm not competing with you".

The "sizzle factor" Osteen discussed plays a major part in competition. We see the models on magazine covers, the celebs hopping off yachts and out of really nice cars, and we see the girls that bare all, and behave in promiscuous ways that end up overnight "celebrities" on reality tv shows, and we start to find things wrong with ourselves. We begin to think, without even realizing it, that we are less than them because of the glitz and glam. It may not be in your destiny to be on the tv screen, and gracing a magazine cover may not be what God intended you to do.

Often times, we see those around us doing big things, and accumulating success, and although we may pretend we are happy, inside we're sometimes jealous or sad. We begin to wonder why this is happening to others and not ourselves. It's important to loose that spirit of jealousy because it stunts our personal growth. You can't be all that you are designed to be while focusing on another person's fortune. Be happy that they are running their race in a successful way, because when you are able to celebrate others, that's when God will celebrate you. Stay blessed!