In Regards to Comparison...

This is a fairly difficult subject to talk about; well, for me it is, anyway.

Comparison is one of Satan's greatest tools, I think.  Is it because we have too much pride? Is it because this life that we live as Believer's is a competition? Is it because we are all too competitive?

My answer to those questions would have to be, "Yes and no." (I'll get to the 'yes' part farther down.)You see, when we compare ourselves to others, particularly when it comes to ministry, we become blinded to what our focus should be.
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Philippians 4:8
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
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I heard this example used by an evangelist by the name of Ed Newton; hopefully it fits with the point I'm trying to make:

When you're at the beach, you sort of set up camp in a particular spot, especially when you're with a bunch of people. You lay all our stuff down; shirt, flipflops, sun glasses, cooler, towel, maybe an umbrella. So you set up camp, and while you're out in the ocean swimming, boogie boarding, surfing, etc., if you're not paying attention, minutes and minutes can go by and you glance toward the shore looking for that place where you put all your stuff and you can't find it; you don't know where you are or how far you've drifted; the current just grabbed you and took you away, sometimes without you even noticing. And by the time you realized you had drifted away from where you should be, you're wondering, "How did I get here?"

Do you see where I'm going with this? That may be a ridiculous example for this, but there's a lot of truth in that. When we begin to compare ourselves to others, we lose focus; we get distracted by trying to keep up, or out-do the next person, instead of rejoicing in what they are doing and being thankful for how God is working. We'll forget about focusing on the true, noble, pure, lovely, and admirable things and we'll end up letting our hearts drift and drift until we're awakened to the fact that we've lost a hold on what was important.

As I am typing this, I am struggling with comparing myself to another Brother in Christ. (Here comes the 'yes' part to that earlier answer.) It's difficult not to compare ourselves to others when they are doing well and seem to be so much stronger than we are. Why? No, the Christian life is not a competition amongst other Believer's. It comes down to pride, and Satan wants to use that to discourage us and get our focus off. Not one of us can say that we haven't compared ourselves to others, especially within the Church. We want to be the stronger one, we want to be the one with the best ideas, we want to be the one that people talk about and say, "Oh, they're so wise." And when we start comparing our life to others, problems start occurring. Pride has essentially taken over because we want to be better, and sometimes feel that we should be better, than others.

Understand this; letting comparison take over your mind can cause division between you and a fellow brother or sister in Christ, and when that happens, our hearts start taking on damage.

Just something for us to think about. It is just something I struggle with and I just wanted to share that with anyone who decides to read this. I pray that no one struggles with this like I do. And I sincerely pray that we can all join together in community to glorify God in everything we do; focusing and meditating on the truth that Paul has written in Philippians 4:8.


Philippians 4:8
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.