#274 Comparisons

We human beings love to compare ourselves to others when it comes to how good or upright or moral we are. We've been doing it ever since Adam pointed his finger at Eve and argued—essentially—"Sure, I ate some of the forbidden fruit, but she was the one who gave it to me." Because we're not dumb, almost without fail we compare ourselves to other people that we think we're better than. "Sure, I'm not perfect, but at least I'm not a liar/drunk/cheater/fill in the blank yourself like they are."

I would say that for Christians there is—at least in general—no value in comparing ourselves to others. If we want to make comparisons, we have two valid choices. First, we can compare ourselves to who we were in the past: a year ago, five years ago, ten years ago, before we believed in Jesus, etc. Second, we can compare ourselves to Christ Jesus Himself. I think we need both of these comparisons. If we only compare ourselves to the people we used to be, there's a danger that we'll get too complacent. We might think that we've grown enough and stop striving to mature as Christians. If we only compare ourselves to Christ, we could become so discouraged by our sinfulness and imperfection that we want to give up, thinking we'll never make any real progress. But the two comparisons together should keep us balanced. We'll see that we still have a long ways to go in living up to the perfect standard of Jesus, but we'll also recognize how Jesus has been helping us little by little to become more like Him.

I know that what I've written here isn't groundbreaking. But it's something that I constantly need to remind myself of, and I'm guessing I'm not the only one. Rather than looking around at everybody else to evaluate my performance in living as a Christian, I need to look up to Jesus and look down into my own heart. Then I'll really see where I need to grow. Then I can pray for forgiveness and help to change. Thankfully, Christ loves to make us new.

Grace and peace,

BMH