But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant. –Matthew 20:26 (NLT)
I was always different as a child, when I so badly wanted to be like everyone else in my class. Because I’m dyslexic, I didn’t start to read fluently until I was ten years old and in the fifth grade. My third-grade teacher told my mother, “Debbie’s a nice little girl, but she’s never going to do well in school.” And I didn’t; I struggled with poor grades all the way through school.
College was never an option for me. When I entered high school, my goal was to make the honor roll just once, for one quarter. I gave it my all. Not once did I make that list. On the last report card I received as a high-school senior, I was one point away.
I was different in other ways too. I wasn’t pretty, and I struggled with my weight. I had only a few friends beside my cousins. I hated being so different.
Years later, after I started daily Bible reading, I discovered Matthew 20:26. Jesus is telling his disciples that to live the way He wants them to, they need to be servants. I read the verse another way. It was as if Jesus was telling me personally that He made me different for a reason: He had a purpose for me.
Because I was different, I could encourage others to become all God intended. None of us need allow our differences to hold us back in life. Our differences are reason to celebrate; after all, this is exactly the way God wanted us.
Thank You, Jesus, for making me different.
