Friday, July 6, 2012

The Curse of Comparison

“At least I’m not as bad him. I wish I had what they had. I’ll never measure up to them. Why did God bless them and not me?” All these are statements of comparison and comparison is a curse and will ruin you! In John 21, after Jesus gave Peter the great task of feeding His sheep, Peter compared himself to John. Jesus told Peter that he would die following Him. This caused Peter to point at John and say, “What about John?” After all if Peter had to die, shouldn’t John have to die as well? If Peter got bad news then everyone else needed bad news as well. Jesus addressed this needless comparison by saying, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.” Whom God blesses is none of our business. Our business is following Him.

We must stop comparing ourselves with others and start following Christ. The curse of comparing yourself with someone else will either produce insecurity or pride (both sins). You will either see yourself as inferior or superior. Sometimes it bothers us when those we do not like prosper. Resenting them eventually leads to resenting and being angry at God. Envy and jealousy are the roots of comparison. They open the door to deception and destruction. Being jealous of people and envious of their things will ruin you.

Comparing yourself with others will distract you from God’s purpose for your life. Focusing on others strengths and blessings cause you to miss out on your strengths and blessings. Feeling inadequate or inferior to others blinds us to who we really are in Christ. The only way to make yourself look better is search for someone you think you are better than. 2 Corinthians 10:12 warns us, “We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise.” Comparing yourself with someone else is not wise!

Comparison is also bathed in greed and covetousness. Comparison tells God, “I want their life because I don’t like the one You gave me.” Comparison demonstrates ungratefulness toward God and throws a rebellious fist in His face. Desiring something someone else has is idolatry. You say, “Really pastor? You are carrying this too far.” I don’t think so. Colossians 3:5 tells us to put to death covetousness, which is idolatry. Do you realize that the sin of comparison could be stopping God from blessing you?

What cures us from the curse of comparison? Glorifying God is number one. Glorify means magnify. When you make God big it makes what you think you don’t have small. Magnifying anything other than God opens the door to the sin of comparison. Secondly, you need to be thankful to God. Remembering that everything good in your life is a direct result of God’s goodness and grace. Stop right now and thank God for five good things in your life. Lastly you need to renew your mind. Start setting your mind on things above, not on earthly things (Colossians 3:2).

Peter learned this lesson of comparison. When he died thirty years later, history tells us he was crucified upside down. Why? He refused to be crucified like Jesus. He did not want his death to be compared to that of His Lord because he thought it would have robbed Jesus’ glory.

1 comment:

  1. I've really enjoyed all your blogs the past few months. Good teaching! Thanks

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