QUIT
THE COMPARISON GAME
BREAD
3 If
anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 4 Each
one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without
comparing himself to somebody else, 5 for each one should carry his own load. Galatians 6:3-5 (NIV)
3 For
by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more
highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in
accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. 4 Just as each of us has one body
with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we who are many form
one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6 We have different gifts, according
to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in
proportion to his faith. 7 If
it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; 8 if it is encouraging, let him
encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give
generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing
mercy, let him do it cheerfully. 9 Love
must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in
brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11 Never be lacking in zeal, but
keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in
affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share
with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality. 14 Bless those who persecute you;
bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice
with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16 Live in harmony with one another.
Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do
not be conceited. 17 Do
not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of
everybody. 18 If
it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Romans 12:3-18 (NIV)
12 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. 2 Corinthians 10:12 (NIV)
3 You
are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are
you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men? 4 For
when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not
mere men? 5 What,
after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came
to believe--as the Lord has assigned to each his task. 6 I
planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. 7 So
neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes
things grow. 8 The man who plants and the man who waters have one
purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. 9 For
we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building. 1
Corinthians 3:3-9 (NIV)
27 To this John replied, “A man can receive only what is
given him from heaven. 28 You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the
Christ but am sent ahead of him.’ 29 The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends
the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the
bridegroom's voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. 30 He
must become greater; I must become less. 31 The
one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to
the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is
above all.” John 3:27-31 (NIV)
25 “To
whom will you compare me? Or who is my
equal?” says the Holy One. Isaiah 40:25
(NIV)
8 Among
the gods there is none like you, O Lord; no deeds can compare with yours. 9 All the nations you have made will come and worship
before you, O Lord; they will bring glory to your name. 10 For
you are great and do marvelous deeds; you alone are God. Psalms 86:8-10 (NIV)
BUTTER
“Turns out it doesn’t matter a hill of beans how old you are, how wise
you are, or how you’re sitting pretty - the more you let yourself
compete and compare, the more you forget your own calling. I’d seen it, the women with their big handbags
and big hopes: The more you push to get in front of others,
the more you fall behind in being the best you can be.” Ann Voskamp
“Paul’s opponents (and any who sided with
them) could be censured on several counts. The first was the inadequate
standard by which they evaluated themselves. The false apostles compared
themselves not with the divine standard exemplified by Christ but with other
men, using human standards. In doing so, Paul said, no matter how much they
vaunted their human wisdom they showed themselves to be not
wise, but fools.” Bible
Knowledge Commentary
“Most (if not all) encounters in
Scripture with God (or even His angels) and man have left men jaw dropping and
prostrate. When sinful flesh encounters
total purity the normal cry is ‘Woe, Woe, Woe is me’ as Isaiah stated. God is so totally other. There is none like Him. None to compare. None.
He is not our buddy, our pal, or our Santa Clause or magic Genie for
that matter. He does not exist to do our
bidding – indeed, that is what we exist for – to do His. We have flipped this to our own destruction
and harm. He is loving and good but as
C. S. Lewis writes, ‘He is not safe’ when we willingly choose to walk in
disobedience to His ways. We are in dire
need of a proper view of God as demonstrated perfectly in His Word. Never neglect it.” BHY
“Christ, when he blesses, blesses not in word only, but in deed. The lips
of truth cannot promise more: ‘No matter how athletic, slim, handsome or
pretty, intelligent, well-read, respected, connected, funny, wealthy, or
religious we are, if we anchor our worth in these things instead of
in the smile of God over us, these things will eventually wreck us.’ The only esteem that won’t abandon
us is the esteem given to us by Jesus. Because only in Jesus are we
fully known and always loved, thoroughly exposed yet never rejected.
Only Jesus will repeatedly forgive us
when we fail Him. Only Jesus will declare His affection
for us when we are at our very worst as well as at our very best. Only in Jesus can we return to that blessed Edenic
state of being naked and without shame. The quest
for self-esteem is, deep down, an attempt to silence negative verdicts that
assault us from the outside and from within. In Jesus, the Second Adam, the
negative verdicts from the outside and from within are made powerless. There is now no condemnation for
those who are in Him. In Jesus, we no longer have anything to fear, prove,
or hide. There’s no
need to self-medicate. There’s
no need to self-promote or to drop names at parties. There’s no need to
compare or compete. There’s no need to wear ourselves down by
chasing career or applause or respect or being able to fit into a size four. We are not called to be perfectly awesome. We
are called to be imperfectly faithful, because we have been perfectly loved,
liberated, and highly esteemed by the Most High. It is said that Buddha’s dying words
were, ‘Strive without ceasing.’
Jesus’ dying words were, ‘It is finished.’ Give me Jesus. Our souls are
glory-vacuums, fearfully and wonderfully made for an Esteem greater than
self. And
He esteems us much. The
One who made the galaxies with His breath has said so.” Scott
Sauls
“You are incomparably made, uniquely loved,
and powerfully purposed. God's promises for you are without rival, and His
plans for you are beyond compare. Perhaps you've felt like you've veered off
course, but God's pursuit of us is greater than our ability to wander. If you
think you've blown God's plan for your life, rest in this: You, my beautiful
friend, are not that powerful. He is a God of restoration and redemption, and
He makes all things new.” Lisa Bevere
“One of the
greatest lies we believe is that it is better to be accepted by the group than to
stand alone for being different. Yet being different is one of the core
attributes of God Himself. God is holy. He is different and set apart from all
of His creation. We cannot compare Him to anyone or anything else. Our human
goodness can never reach anywhere near God's perfection. God said, "'To
whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?' says the Holy One" (Isaiah
40:25). God wants all of His children to
be different just like He is different. "It is God's will that you should
be sanctified" (1 Thessalonians 4:3). God calls us to be different from
the world, to stand against the immorality of our culture, to set ourselves
apart from the secular.” Michael
Youssef
“We are generally left with two feelings
when we play the comparison game with others – we either feel worse about
ourselves or pridefully better about ourselves – neither brings out the best
God has desired for the lives of His children.
We are all ‘fearfully and wonderfully made’ (Psalms 139:14). There are purposes and plans for each of our
lives which are plans to prosper and not harm and give hope (Jeremiah
29:11). We are each loved with an
everlasting love and drawn with cords of loving kindness (Jeremiah 31:3). The man is blessed who makes the Lord his
trust and does not look to the proud (Psalms 40:4). Every child of the King is blessed and
fulfilled when they are standing firm in all the will of God, mature and fully
assured (Colossians 4:12). We are to
live our lives for an audience of One – seeking to please our Master (which
indeed always pleases us as one never outgives God), through His power, for His
glory, for our good. So we make it our
goal to please Him (2 Corinthians 5:9).
The beloved rests secure in Him for He shields him all day long and the
one the Lord loves rests between His shoulders (Deuteronomy 33:12). He is more than sufficient to meet every
inner need and desire of our hearts and to use our lives for His glory, which
btw is what we were all created for.”
BHY
HEART SAVOR
- · Do not compare yourself to others rather seek to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord and please Him in all you think and do and say.
- · What is man that we should compare ourselves to him? Look to your creator. “Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did.” (1 John 2:6). He is to be our model. He is Whom we are to emulate – through His power for His glory.
- · What do we have
that we did not receive and if we did receive it how can we boast?
