Today we will follow-up yesterday’s post on the “daily scroll” with more ways on how we can champion our sisters-in-Christ through strolling through life with them. Yesterday we talked about criticism and how it can lead us to a negative attitude toward our friends. Instead of criticizing others, we can compliment them and encourage them in the Lord. Another way we respond to what we see scrolling through social media is to copy others instead of copying Christ.

Copy.

When I was in middle school, I was highly influential…and a little bit gullible. I was on the cheerleading squad and modeled my life after many of the older girls on the team, some in good ways and others in not-so-good ways. Not only that, but this was the phase in my life where Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen were coming out with movies during their teen years and I wanted to dress and look exactly like them. I had the same hair cut and tried to find similar style outfits. They were my role models and I wanted to copy everything they did.

Thankfully, the Lord also placed some amazing women in my life to model godliness. Our youth pastor’s wife invested time teaching us the Word of God and my sister was also a leader in the youth group. She played guitar and wrote incredible worship music. Because of this, I wanted to do the same. As much as I tried, I never could write a song like she did. It wasn’t my gift. However, I could help dress someone and encourage them through that. So often, we see someone else doing something well and feel that the only thing necessary is to copy them. Instead of praising God, we imitate them as the model for what our own life should look like. 

I have seen this happen over and over in the creative industry, and admit that I used to do this! When I first began business, I constantly looked to other shops and said to myself “I could do that,” and tried and failed. The reason I failed is because it wasn’t what God had called me to do. I was striving and barely surviving. It wasn’t until I started looking deep into God’s Word and listening to Him that He led me to create the “Give Me Jesus” Journal in it’s unique format. Instead of saying “I could do that,” I began looking to God do something brand new in me.

In Ephesians 5:1, Paul tells the church at Ephesus this command:

“Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

We are to imitate, or copy, the life of Jesus, not the women we see on Instagram or our coworkers. We can be encouraged and see women model a love for Jesus well, but ultimately our example is Christ Jesus himself.

What would your life look like if you were free to copy Christ and not your sister? In order to be imitators of God, we must be immersed in His Word so that we follow Him.

Compare.

Comparison will never get your anywhere. It is said that “comparison is the thief of joy.” Comparison will never build you up. It will tear down your soul brick by brick. When we compare with our sisters, we are ultimately saying to God that His creation and work is not enough. The Lord didn’t create us to compare. He created us to come together with one purpose – glorifying God in all that we say and do. You, my sister, were created uniquely in the image of God. Your height, your passions, where you live, your job – all of it has a purpose and has been written by God. What if instead of comparison, we championed one another?

Champion.

That brings me to my final point of ways we can respond to our daily scrolling through social media. We can champion one another in the Lord. I first read about this idea in Jenni Catron’s book “Clout” and it has stuck with me ever since. In her book she said this statement:

“Our influence is most significant when we quit attempting to mimic someone else. When we embrace our influence and champion the influence of others, we begin to see the power of our distinctiveness coming together as a unified force.”

Can I say a big amen? What if today was the day we quit criticizing, stopped copying and comparing, and started championing our sisters in Christ? I just got chills at the amazing freedom we experience. Imagine what a life would like encouraging others in their roles in the body of Christ? Instead of looking to others for our identity or losing our identity in looking at others, we can champion them in the way that God created them and live in confidence of what He has called us to do.

Friends, I believe that God is doing something new. I believe He wants to redeem your “daily scroll” through social media for His glory. He doesn’t want you to be discouraged in who you were created to be. It is not His will for you to live life disconnected from community with other women. It is His will that we be unified with the body of Christ as Paul describes in Philippians 2:1-5.

I’ve got a vision of women all over the world not being championed by their fears and insecurities, but championing others well in the truth and love of Jesus Christ. What if, friends?

Let’s walk in freedom, champion our sisters, and walk in the confidence of who God made us to be. This is a new day, let’s live it for Jesus!

championing you today,

Gretchen

(Photos by my dear friend Katherine McBroom!)