The Comparing Game

READ: ROMANS 12:1-21; 1 CORINTHIANS 12:4-11; 1 PETER 4:8-11

I wish I could play the piano as well as they can.

At least I’m a better swimmer than she is.

I finally got a better exam grade than he did!

At first, comparison might seem fun—like a contest—especially when you win. And humbly, honestly assessing our skills and abilities and how they’re different from other people’s isn’t inherently bad. In fact, it can help us find ways to improve! But when we start to compare in unhealthy ways, we can easily become prideful—or discouraged. We either think we’re inherently superior to other people—or we put ourselves down, feeling like who we are isn’t good enough, like we just don’t measure up.

But this isn’t how God views us. It doesn’t make any sense to rank ourselves because we’re all in the same boat. We all desperately need Jesus, and in His great love, He has rescued us and made us one through His death and resurrection. Now, as believers, we all have His same Holy Spirit. In the Kingdom of God, status doesn’t matter. Unity does.

Trying to be someone else will never help you. Why? Because you aren’t someone else. God has made you unique, with a combination of talents and passions that no other person in history has ever had, and He has empowered you to use those gifts to serve in a way no one else can. You are one of a kind, so why try to be the same as others?

When you’re tempted to compare your identity to somebody else’s, you can come back to who God says you are. In Jesus, you are God’s beloved child, an irreplaceable part of His global family. He calls you to do your best with what He’s given you. Not for the approval of others or to be the best in the world or to show that you deserve to be in His family. But because God—the one who loves you more than any other—made you this way. • Abby Ciona

• How can unhealthy comparison get in the way of following Jesus, enjoying the ways He made us all different, and taking part in the good work He calls us to do together? (Matthew 28:16-20; Ephesians 2:10)

• In what ways do you tend to compare yourself to others? Consider taking a moment to talk to Jesus about this, thanking Him for making you—and the people you’re tempted to measure yourself against—and asking Him to help you see yourself and others as He sees you.

Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Romans 12:10 (NIV)