We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works … . Ephesians 2:10
Few ideas in the scientific realm have ever been introduced without ridicule and unbelief. When men first suggested that the world was not flat and that man could not sail off the end of the world, they were laughed to scorn. When Nicolaus Copernicus first suggested his theory of a sun-centered universe, he was so persecuted that he was forced to actually withdraw his hypothesis. When Henry Ford put his first automobile on the road, he was thought of as a fool who had wasted his time on a foolish invention.
Most inventions and ideas, though, have been scoffed at when they were first introduced, but when psychiatrists came out with the theory of “inferiority complexes,” it was immediately embraced and accepted. Strange? Perhaps not. Whether a person is an executive with thousands working under him, or a six-year-old boy who is just venturing into the hard, cold world, all of us struggle with feelings of inferiority.
Some time or another, almost everybody feels that he or she just doesn’t have it. You’re not as good as the other person, and so you suffer from that shop-worn phrase, “an inferiority complex.” Actually, this concept of inferiority is less than a century old in the scientific world; but as far as life goes, it’s as old as the human race itself.
The complexes we face come from three main sources: worry, guilt and anger. A person who constantly worries begins to wonder if he’s adequate—feels inferior to his colleagues. Eventually he is paralyzed by his own fear, and, for practical purposes, his performance is inferior. Second, guilt creates feelings of inferiority. By feeling guilty for actions or attitudes, a person begins to wonder if something’s wrong with him. Being unable to express yourself also contributes to that. Third, a burst of anger makes a person feel inadequate and inferior to his contemporaries who can better control their emotions and feelings.
Hey, friend. God is concerned with your life, your frustrations, your feelings of being unable to cope. May I ask you, first of all, who told you that you were inferior? God certainly didn’t! His Word tells us there is no respective persons with Him. You then, as an individual, are as important to God as anyone else in the world, and what God has done for others, He will do for you too. As long as you feel inferior, you defeat yourself. When you’re plagued by “inferiority,” measure your life against what God—not the world—expects. Ask Him for His strength and then roll up your sleeves and focus on God’s will—His expectations, His purpose for you. You soon understand that what really counts in life is doing His will and striving to fulfill His expectations rather than yours or the expectations of others. Remember the words of Scripture, “As he thinks in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7 NKJV). About 95 percent of your feelings of inferiority come from trying to be someone else, measuring up to someone else’s expectations.
Again, let me remind you that if you have trusted Christ as your Savior, life doesn’t happen by chance. The Bible says that God allowed you to be in this very situation. Paul said, “Let everyone lead the life which the Lord has assigned to him, in which God has called him” (1 Corinthians 7:17).
Our life situations, then, are those into which God Himself has directed us so that we can accomplish His purpose and His will can be done in our lives. Never forget it.
Resource reading: Ephesians 2:1-10
