Once upon a time, in a far away land, two camels made their way across the desert. The two camels came to a wall, but only one was big enough to get over it. The little camel looked up at the bigger camel and said “You go ahead. I’m too small. I obviously am not worthy of continuing on this journey.” The big camel looked at the little camel with love and fiercely said “I am not better; I am bigger! Now climb on my back, and let’s go!!”

What are some things you’ve been called as a Christian? “Goody goody” “Miss Perfect” “The good girl” these are just a few things I myself have been called in my life, and if you have chosen to follow Jesus, you probably have too.

Whenever we hear these things we must remember how the enemy works. As we are ridiculed, Satan has one goal: division. He comes to steal, kill, and ultimately separate each and every one of us from God. One clever way to separate you from Christ is to first separate you from your brother or sister in Christ. The sad truth is, a lot of times, he is successful! It makes us angry to be called names, and the last thing we want to do is show that person love.

So what does all of this have to do with my little tale of the two camels? The mockery, the name calling, the eye rolling—all of this comes from the person who believes Christians think they are better than them, or worse, a person who actually believes they are beneath the person they are ridiculing. The only correct response to this is love. Show them the truth, even if you don’t speak it; be it. Show it through your actions or your lack of retaliation. Otherwise, you risk pushing that person even further away from Christ.

Christians, it’s important we understand that we are not better than anyone. We are all made in the image of God. We all have a purpose. We must try our best to point people to the truth about themselves and most importantly, the truth about who God is. At no point in your journey are you better than anyone else. You may be bigger, you may be wiser, you may even be further along in your journey, but your worth comes from the One who created you!

How much more beautiful is it to see someone move forward in his or her journey through the love and compassion of another person helping them along as opposed to them just getting there all on their own? There are a number of different people who I can say have helped me along in my journey. They were never better than me, but they simply had more years or more knowledge to contribute.

The truth is, God designed His children differently and purposely created us with the intention for us to have different and unique journeys and for us to help one another along the way. We all were created with unique strengths and weaknesses. How boring would life be if we all had the same journey, the same gifts, and the same story to tell or if we had to make the journey alone? Further, how boring would it be if there were no journey at all—if we all just arrived at our destination in the blink of an eye? There’s a deeper love and deeper gratitude that is able to be felt through our differences and through the progression of time. It’s in the journey, we are given the gift of not just knowing God, but discovering Him.