There’s been a bit of a theme in conversations over the last week, but it took last night’s post for me to join the dots.
In some ways, writing yesterday felt like a bit of a bust. I didn’t have inspiration. And yet, there’s an unspoken expectation that I’ll always have something to write. All you see are the posts I put out.
Not the mild panic at 10pm when I realise I haven’t factored in time to write. Not the search for inspiration when a day has been… perfectly, unremarkably ordinary.
And I think that’s true of more than just blogging. At the weekend, we were talking about how easily our identity can get wrapped up in the image we present to the world. Social media doesn’t help.
You see the picture of the mum with no hair out of place, her toddler calmly eating dinner. Meanwhile, another mum hasn’t had a chance to shower because her toddler screamed half the night and has just launched their food across the room. What the picture doesn’t show is the meltdown in the supermarket three hours earlier.
Or the student getting top marks, life and soul of the party. Compared to them, the one just scraping by feels completely out of place. What they don’t see is that behind closed doors, that high achiever is exhausted, lonely, and quietly overwhelmed.
And then there’s the trainee vicar, standing up to lead a service, looking calm and confident… while underneath wondering if she’s actually as capable as everyone else.
That one might be true…
The truth is, we end up comparing our worst days to someone else’s highlight reel. And it’s not just “out there” on social media. Sometimes, it creeps into church life too.
There can be this sense that some Christians have it all together. They know their Bible inside out. They pray beautifully, confidently. They always seem to have the right answer at the right time.
“Super Christians.”
Except… there’s no such thing.
I’ll let you in on a secret: I don’t know the Bible as well as it might sometimes seem. If I know the gist of a verse, I’ll often Google it. My Bible has one of those helpful lists at the back (grief, waiting, celebration…) and I absolutely use it.
I’m not saying that to lower the bar. I’m saying it because it’s real. We all have gaps. We all have doubts. We all have moments where we feel like we’re just about holding it together with a smile and a bit of well-timed confidence.
And the Bible is full of people exactly like that.
Abraham lied.
Joseph showed off.
Elijah ran away and wanted to give up.
Zechariah doubted an angel.
James and John argued about who was greatest.
And Peter… well, Peter denied even knowing Jesus when it mattered most.
These aren’t the stories of perfect people. They’re the stories of real people. Messy people. People with fears and flaws and off-days and moments they probably wished they could edit out.
And yet, they’re the very people God chose to work through. Maybe the problem isn’t that we’re not measuring up. Maybe it’s that we’re comparing ourselves to something that was never real in the first place. A carefully presented image. A filtered version of someone’s life. A “together” that doesn’t exist outside of appearances.
God doesn’t call “Super Christians.” He calls people. People who sometimes feel like they’re winging it. People who don’t always have the right words. People who occasionally Google Bible verses.
People like you. People like me.
So if you’ve ever felt like everyone else has it all figured out except you… You’re not alone.
You’re just seeing your own reality, while everyone else is showing you their highlight reel.
But God sees the real, unfiltered you, and He thinks you’re wonderful.
The Reason for my Hope Blog 