Day 9: I is for Individuality

“I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made …” Psalm 139:14

I is for Individuality. Wow! That is a mouthful, is it not? So, what in the world does this word actually mean? It means the quality or character that distinguishes one person from another.

Think about that for a minute … God made each one of us different. There are not two of me anywhere on this earth. I have known sets of twins before and no matter how close they look alike on the outside, they have their own personality on the inside.

Now, I know that you are wondering why I even picked this word for today’s devotion … and to answer that question, ‘I can only say it was God” … because who does not use I for Indian, right? Me, I guess!

There is such a wide variety of angles that we can look at this word from, so let us begin!

First, as an individual … a person uniquely myself … I should not be judging others according to my own makeup, my own ideas, nor my own thoughts. Matthew 7:1 says to, “Judge not, that ye be not judged” I am not to make myself the plumb-line (guideline for all others to be measured by). God’s Word is our only true guideline and He is our only true Guide. Let us let Him do the guiding.

Second, as individuals, we are not to compare ourselves with others. II Corinthians 10:12 says, “For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: [for] they … are not wise.” We all know what the opposite of wise is and we surely do not want to be thought that, do we? So, let us not compare ourselves with others and let us try not to make others fit into our mold … because my mold only fits one person … ME!

Thirdly, there are times where we think that because someone else does not do as we say or act the way that we want them to act, that they must change to meet our expectations. Guilty! So, who died and made me boss? Umm … no one! I know it is hard to accept, but we cannot change anyone … our spouse, our child, the cashier at the grocery store, the dog groomer … NO one! Only God can do that! He is the One who is all-powerful! Jeremiah 32:17 “Ah Lord God! … there is nothing too hard for thee.”

Last, but definitely not least, we are individually going to have to stand before a righteous and holy God one day and give an account of our lives. We see this in Ecclesiastes 12:14. No one else can do that for us. Matthew 12:36 tells us that even every idle word that we speak will be brought into account. Oh my!

Lesson Objective: To understand how my individuality affects those around me. To understand that as an individual, I will have to give an account one day for things that I alone have done.

Did you pass or did you fail?