Who do you admire?  I imagine that if you’re a preacher, you admire other preachers.  If you’re in kids ministry or student ministry, you’ve got a few leaders you follow. Graphic designers study and admire other graphic designers, musicians often follow other musicians. If you work in the marketplace, you admire other friends, colleagues or leaders in the field.

All of that is healthy.  To think there’s nothing to admire or learn from others is egotistical.

But sometimes admiring someone can lead you to want to be like them, or to be them, or – eek- even to be the next “them”.  Twitter, facebook, podcasts and this increasingly connected world make it so easy to watch someone else’s every move that I wonder whether some of us sometimes stop living our own lives and start living vicariously through others.

If you think that might be happening, here’s what to do: find a big red button and connect it to a loud buzzer and press repeatedly until you can’t stand it anymore and stop the behaviour.

Whenever I speak, write or lead, I feel the pressure to be better.  I listen to other speakers, watch other leaders and read other writers.  And once in a while I catch myself thinking “I wish I was __________” or “I wish I could be more like _________”.  This is when the stinkin’ loud buzzer should sound.  Right now.

Think about it…God will never hold you accountable for being someone he never created you to be.  He will not say “Carey, how come you weren’t more like Craig Groeschel or Andy Stanley?”  If God had wanted that, he would have made more Craig Groeschels and Andy Stanleys.   Good parents would never lay that pressure on their kids (“Hey, how come you’re not more like your friend Taylor?” – and those of you who had a parent who did that are wincing right now).  But sometimes we put that pressure on ourselves.

The only task before you (and me) is to take all the faith, talent, trust, ability and gifting God has given you and use it to be the best ‘you’ you can be.   God actually wants me to be more like Carey  - redeemed, forgiven and empowered Carey – but Carey still the same.  Ditto for you.

What will you be held accountable for?  Being ‘you’ in the context of the cross and tomb.  Nothing more. Nothing less.

So have the humility to learn from others, but then, go be you.  It’s the best gift you can give yourself, the best gift you can give God, and the best gift you can give the world.