We just finished yet another Phenomenal Series @ Church titled "I Quit"
Week One was "Quit making excuses"
Week Two: Quit "Complaining"
Week Three was "Quit living in Fear" and
this week we just ended with "Quit Comparing"
The top 4 things that most people compare to others is:
Possessions
Appearance
Performance
Circumstances
I will be honest this weeks message was by far the one I related with the most! I have experienced on far to many occasions comparing myself to others. I have compared myself to other women but the worst that I experienced this spirit of comparison was in ministry and the comparing of spiritual gifts. I often felt "Wow, she knows so much more than me" or "Her prayers are so powerful"
Do you know that God HATES when we "Compare Ourselves to Others??" Here are a few reasons why.....
2 Corinthians 10:12 says
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.
Comparison is the DEATH of Contentment, It robs us of our meaning and steals our JOY! I especially like this one....It steals who God wants me to be and NOT who I wish I was!
Comparison makes us prideful.
Luke 18:11-12 in the Message says:
He told his next story to some who were complacently pleased with themselves over their moral performance and looked down their noses at the common people: "Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax man. The Pharisee posed and prayed like this: 'Oh, God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, crooks, adulterers, or, heaven forbid, like this tax man. I fast twice a week and tithe on all my income.'
Comparing makes us Resentful
See here is 1 Samuel v.6-9 how King Saul of comparing himself to David and resenting how the people were praising David more than him!
As they returned home, after David had killed the Philistine, the women poured out of all the villages of Israel singing and dancing, welcoming King Saul with tambourines, festive songs, and lutes. In playful frolic the women sang,
Saul kills by the thousand,
David by the ten thousand!
This made Saul angry—very angry. He took it as a personal insult. He said, "They credit David with 'ten thousands' and me with only 'thousands.' Before you know it they'll be giving him the kingdom!" From that moment on, Saul kept his eye on David.
Another reason God hates us comparing is when we resent Gods goodness in others lives and tend to forget the blessings in our own lives!
Here is the Good News.....
We CAN Overcome this spirit of Comparison!! HOW?
KNOW what you have and the gifts God has given you like it says in Phillipians 4:11-13
I'm glad in God, far happier than you would ever guess—happy that you're again showing such strong concern for me. Not that you ever quit praying and thinking about me. You just had no chance to show it. Actually, I don't have a sense of needing anything personally. I've learned by now to be quite content whatever my circumstances. I'm just as happy with little as with much, with much as with little. I've found the recipe for being happy whether full or hungry, hands full or hands empty. Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am. I don't mean that your help didn't mean a lot to me—it did. It was a beautiful thing that you came alongside me in my troubles.
Know WHO YOU ARE!
Ephesians 2:10 says
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do
Dear Lord, May We all need know who we are and not who we think we need to be!!
What about you? Do you compare yourself to others??
