The comparison trap

Sometimes we look at what someone else has built, what someone else has been given, where someone else has been placed, and we begin to compare our own life against theirs.

Peter did it too. After Jesus had restored him and given him his calling, Peter looked over his shoulder at John and asked, “Lord, what about him?” Jesus answered: “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me,” (John 21:21-22, NIV).

Theodore Roosevelt once observed that “comparison is the thief of joy.” He was right, but Jesus goes a step further. Comparison isn’t just a thief of joy. It’s a distraction from calling.

The moment we take our eyes off our Shepherd and start comparing ourselves with someone else, we lose sight of the very thing we were made to do.

“Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.”

Psalm 16:5-6, NIV

Content in Him,