To Compare Or Not To Compare

I am not saying this because I am not in need, for I have learned to be content
whatever the circumstances. Philippians 4:11


Spoiler alert, the answer is don't compare, ever for any reason.

There is something that I really want. When I say “really want” you should picture a two year old's tenacity and stubbornness, the emotional dedication of a teenager asking for a later curfew and the hunger of a puppy left home alone all day, all rolled into one. I really want this thing. Really.

So I pray and hope and stand on biblical promises and trust my Abba and badger my Abba and cry out to my Abba.... I'm pretty sure you get the idea by now.

There are a few people of whom I am painfully aware, who have exactly what I want and have it in neon letters, on steroids and with great potential to continue right along their happy way. To say that a couple of those people, one in particular, annoy me is a vast understatement. What is that emotion again? Oh, right jealousy. Ugh! I hate being jealous.

I'm jealous because they have what I want, sure but that jealousy grows and festers and becomes well known to all around me because I compare. I look at Mr. X and I think, then say, how it's just not right that he should have what I want. Then I move on to the other ones, the ones I see as slightly less offensive and mentally list why I should have what they have or better. At that point I can wave good-bye to contentment godly or otherwise.

The flip side of comparisons is when I do receive a blessing and feel badly because I feel that someone else deserves it more. While that “why me” may seem lovely and altruistic, it's still the enemy of my contentment. It still causes me to judge God. Yes, you read that right, I said judge God and trust me friend, I am not alone in judging God.

We do it every time we question why this one is blessed and that one isn't, why there is sickness or hatred in the world or when things will get better. We do it when we bring our prayers to the throne only to pick them up again and think we can handle them better than the Savior of the world. In all of those examples and so many more, we judge God.

Our Abba is perfect. His will is right and best. If our eyes are focused on Him there is no room for comparisons and without comparisons it is much easier to stay content.


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