BE WARY OF COMPARING! (Part II)

A cousin of mine once commented that he’d purposed years ago to never resent the successes of another, whether they were rich, famous, or in possession of any desirable attribute. This was simply a resolution he had made as a young teenager at the time. You may ask, ‘What’s wrong with comparing myself to someone else—perhaps to someone I admire?’ In short, we do well to remember that our Creator has uniquely created and gifted each one of us.

What is the downside of comparing ourselves to others? (1) It can lead us down the slippery slope of jealousy and envy, as the accounts of those cited in “part one” clearly reveal. As my cousin shared when we were teens (many decades ago), it’s far better to rejoice in and admire others’ successes than to indulge in futile comparisons. After all, you and I don’t know the full story of that other person’s journey—eg., their personal history, their struggles, or other setbacks. Moreover, coveting others’ seeming advantages taints what should be our own thankfulness to God for our unique and wondrous blessings; this surely grieves the heart of our Lord (Ephes. 4:30, 31)! (2) Frequent comparisons between ourselves and others often results in our losing sight of God’s purpose for us as individuals who are “fearfully and wonderfully made!” (Ps. 139) Remember when Peter asked Jesus about John, in the gospel of John 21:22, what sort of death he would die? Our Savior’s somewhat terse reply was that if He wanted John to live until He returned, what is that to Peter?!? (Woe!)  We are not the best assessors of the quality of another’s service to the Lord; only God is. We’re not even qualified to rightly adjudge our own spiritual track record, let alone another’s! (3) We in fact violate a commandment of God by falling into the comparison trap. So harmful is this fleshly practice that the Spirit declares him/ her unwise who dares to compare themselves with others, or even to themselves! (2 Corinthians 10:12)

PRAYER: Thank You for blessing each of us in the body with a multitude of diverse gifts of service, talents, and abilities. May we be wise enough to employ them with such a single-minded focus and devotedness to You that we’ll not have time to indulge the purposeless folly of flesh-based comparisons. In Jesus’ name—amen!
By Sis. Denise Diggs