Beyond Compare

Each person should test their own work and be happy with doing a good job and not compare themselves with others. Each person will have to carry their own load.

(Galatians 6:4-5)

Beyond Compare

Good Day Family,

There is an expression that declares that comparison is the thief of joy. It reflects how comparing ourselves with others leads to discontent with ourselves and our circumstances. Someone will have a nicer landscape or a bigger home. Someone will be faster, smarter, more accomplished in some aspect.

We can always find someone we perceive to be doing better or seemingly having an easier time. Why is this happening to me is a different question than why is this happening at all. The first suggests that others aren’t challenged with the same difficulties and the other searches for meaning to our

condition.

Comparison can also lead to complacency. We can be satisfied with maintaining the status quo because we think ourselves to be in good company. We may not be inspired to do more because we observe others getting by with less.

Comparison can also cause us to focus on the wrong things. Peer pressure does not end in high school or college. Comparison may lead us to take up activities or behaviors not meant for us even if they are perfectly acceptable for others. At the same time, we may forego opportunities because our attention is on what others are doing rather than what God is calling us to do.

We are measured by our fruit—the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. When we attend to that, our lives become beyond compare.

Attentively,

Be well

Pastor Cheryl

Let us encourage one another. Let us love our neighbor. Let us be the church.