David was ready to fight Goliath. Saul gave David his armor to take on the giant. When David put on Saul’s armor, he felt weighed down. He could hardly move. That is what happens when we try to be like others. Our inability to be like them weighs us down. We feel immobilized because we can’t think, act, or do things like they do. That is the case because God did not create us like them. He created us to be unique.

Then Saul outfitted David as a soldier in armor. He put his bronze helmet on his head and belted his sword on him over the armor. David tried to walk but he could hardly budge. David told Saul, “I can’t even move with all this stuff on me. I’m not used to this.” And he took it all off.” (1 Samuel 17:38- 39 MSG)

We experience failure when we put on armor, gadgets, personalities or styles that are “suited” for others but not for us. If David had worn that armor to fight Goliath, he would have lost the battle before it started. Goliath would have fed him to the dogs. He would have been minced meat. But thank God David rejected being like Saul. He refused to proceed with a tactic that even Saul could not use. We should not reinvent the wheel; we should renovate it.

In any and every battle we need to be courageous; we need faith; we need hope; we need persistence and determination. However, how we apply those virtues does not have to be exactly like others. David needed an armor to fight Goliath. But based on his uniqueness, he did not need an armor of steel; he needed an armor of skill. Five smooth stones and a sling shot did not necessarily do the job. It was his shield of faith in God, the helmet of salvation that God “got his back,” and the sword of God’s Word in his mouth that God would help him prevail, that did the job. It was these armor that provided the support for David to catapult the stone that brought down Goliath (1 Samuel 17:40-50; Ephesians 6:10-14).

David rejected Saul’s armor because he had no experience with it. David had experience with his own armor—the same one he used to protect his father’s sheep from a lion and a bear, both of which he took out with faith in God’s protection. He applied his experience with the animals against Goliath and prevailed.

We are not experienced in being other people. Some of us are even inexperienced in being ourselves because we’ve exhausted lots of time and energy and suffered defeat by trying to be like others. We should be ourselves. We should take time to begin to discover and cultivate the gifts, talents, abilities and personalities that God has placed in us. We should begin to express our hearts. If we don’t, well, like I’ve been discussing throughout this book, rejection is hired to cause us to dig deep into ourselves and withdraw the things that have been lying dormant in us.

Friend, reject trying to be like others. In your own unique way, you’re beautiful. If you haven’t discovered that, just be-you-to-full.

1. O. J. Toks, Rejected for a Purpose (Paoli, PA: Elevator Group Faith, 2010), 240 – 241.