You Asked For It: Comparison | Pastor Rodney Thrift
You Asked For It
Comparison…
Galatians 6:4 (ERV) 4 Don’t compare yourself with others. Just look at your own work to see if you have done anything to be proud of. 5 You must each accept the responsibilities that are yours.
Galatians 6:4 (NLT) 4 Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else. 5 For we are each responsible for our own conduct.
Galatians 6:4 (TMSG) 4Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Don’t be impressed with yourself. Don’t compare yourself with others. 5Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life.
Comparison: Estimate, measure, or note the similarity or dissimilarity between. The act or instance of comparing.
Contentment: A state of satisfaction. Satisfied with a certain level of achievement, blessing, etc., and not wishing for more.
“Comparison is the thief of joy.” Theodore Roosevelt
SOUL TATTOO: Comparing ourselves to others only leads to conflict.
“Comparison is determining where I am based on where everyone else is.” Andy Stanley
“We are plagued by comparison. We compare our bodies, our jobs, our families, our skills, our stuff, our intellects, in an ever-increasing desire for complete satisfaction. We want to be attractive, successful, and happy. So, we measure ourselves against the people around us. But instead of resulting in contentment, our comparison delivers compulsive jealousy, pride, and shame. We envy those who are “better” than us, and we look down on those who are “worse” than us. And once we’ve started comparing ourselves, we slide into a bitterly insatiable cycle. The more we compare ourselves, the more we need to compare ourselves. It’s an addiction. We’re on a quest for acceptance and joy, but are paralyzed by the pressure to look, do, and be better than the people around us. Because of this, we are distracted from our purpose, mission, and need to pursue holiness. This is why comparison is so deadly. Jaquelle Crow
“We won’t be distracted by comparison if we are captivated with purpose.” Bob Goff
“The reason we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our behind the scenes with everyone else’s highlight reel.” Pastor Steven Furtick
Purpose and the 3 C’s:
- If I know my purpose, I don’t have to be competitive.
Philippians 2:3 (NLT) 3 Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. 4 Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.
- If I know my purpose, I don’t have to be in control.
Luke 22:42 (ESV) 41 And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, 42 saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”
- If I know my purpose, I don’t have to covet.
Exodus 20:17 (ESV) 17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”
4 Keys to contentment:
1.) Be captivated by Christ. (KNOW GOD)
Psalm 27:4-5 (NIV) 4 One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.
Psalm 27:4-5 (TMSG) 4 I’m asking God for one thing, only one thing: To live with him in his house my whole life long. I’ll contemplate his beauty; I’ll study at his feet.5 That’s the only quiet, secure place in a noisy world, The perfect getaway, far from the buzz of traffic.
2.) Compare ourselves to Christ alone. (BUILD COMMUNITY)
Colossians 3:1-2 (NIV) Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
3.) Have a correct view of how God made me. (DISCOVER YOUR PURPOSE)
Genesis 1:27 (ESV) 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
4.) Be compelled to serve others. (MAKE A DIFFERENCE)
Mark 10:45 (NIV) 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Galatians 6:4 (TMSG) 4Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Don’t be impressed with yourself. Don’t compare yourself with others. 5Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life.
Ephesians 1:18-19a (NIV) 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe.