During the New Life Bible class, I mentioned that I suffered from an inferiority complex until my mid-forties. Someone in the class sent me an email saying that she had the same problem and wanted to know how I overcame mine. The following is a part of my response:
Attacking your inferiority complex directly doesn’t work. No matter how hard you try to convince yourself that you aren’t inferior, the small voice that says you’re inferior doesn’t go away. An inferiority complex comes from comparing ourselves with others. So to overcome our inferiority complex, we should stop comparing ourselves with others. To do that, we must learn to see ourselves and others from God’s point of view.
We are infinitely valuable to God. God loves each of us like we’re only ones who exist in the world. When we devalue something that is so valuable to God, it hurts Him. When we realize that, we can no longer consider ourselves inferior to others and pity ourselves.
Other people are also infinitely valuable to God; God loves them with the same love by which He loves us. When we envy others or put them down, it saddens God. When we realize this, we cannot be jealous of them or think ill of them.
When we entrust our lives to God’s hands, He helps us live the lives we are meant to live, lives that are beautiful, meaningful and rewarding. These lives aren’t the same for every person. We must simply live our lives the best we can. It shouldn’t be our concern what kind of life God leads others to live. There should be no comparison. We just trust God, obey Him, and live the lives God assigned us to live.
We cannot tell for sure whether our lives are successes or failures before we die. Only God knows. A life the world deems successful and applauds may be a failure to God. The things that the world considers blessings may turn out to be curses in God’s judgment. The success and failure of our lives will only be determined on judgment day. We must set our sights on God, who will judge with fairness and righteousness, and live our lives the best we can.
It takes time to see yourself and others from God’s perspective. You have to be patient and do your best each day with the hope that someday, you will be freed from your inferiority complex. In the meantime, when you meet someone you feel is superior to you and the inferiority complex kicks in, give a verbal compliment or congratulate their achievements via email. When you keep doing this, you will gradually begin to sincerely want them to succeed and your inferiority complex will slowly disappear.
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