I believe God has deposited within each of us gifts, abilities, skills, and resources that were not meant solely for our own good. Instead, God calls us to use our gift mix to invest in others. Unfortunately, we often face a thinking deficit when it comes to investing in others–I call it “i3 Thinking.” The first “i” stands for inferiority:
It is easy to identify somebody else that is more qualified when it comes to investing in people. We say to ourselves, “If I had more money, more influence, or more talent, I would gladly invest in others.” Then we point at someone we consider superior to ourselves and say, “pick her.” Inferiority sells us a lie that everybody is better than us. It tricks us into thinking that we have to be at the top of our game before we can make a single investment in somebody else. As a result, we benchmark ourselves against the “most qualified.” Inferiority makes the measure of success feel far higher than it actually is. We look at people like Mother Teresa and say, “Now that was a saint! If I was like her then I could impact others.” But we forget the very simple words that Mother Teresa spoke: “If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one.” Inferiority focuses on everybody else’s superiority rather than our personal responsibility.
Question: How have you seen inferiority paralyze people? How has it affected your ability to invest in others?
