The Thief of Comparison

We have all been in a place where we feel that we are not good enough. A place where we feel like we don’t have it all together. A place where everyone around us seems to have it all figured out. Their lives just seem so picture perfect. How do they do it? What do they have that I don’t? What is their secret?

The truth is they don’t have it all together. I mean, they may, but there are still things that they battle, go through, and are trying to overcome. We all do, we all are.

No matter where we are at in life, no matter the season, we are always learning and growing. Every obstacle, every plateau, every situation, every valley, every mountain, we are being transformed by it.

We can’t sit and compare our lives, our story, or our progress to others. We will never succeed, we will never grow or blossom. We will be crippled and robbed of the life that the Lord has planned just for us. Everything that we go through is part of the journey, part of the process. He is writing our story, we are living out our testimony. It is pruning us, sharpening us, molding us, transforming us, and preparing us to the greater calling He has for us. It is a process and we have to walk out every step along the way, if we don’t, we miss out and others miss out as well.

We have no idea what someone else has been through, what has gotten them to where they are now. We don’t know the pain they have felt, the tears they have cried, the prayers they have prayed, or the fight they have had to fight. So, while we sit and envy and pray to have their life, they could be wishing they had ours. We never know what someone else has been through, or is going through, and we shouldn’t assume we do.

Comparison is not a fruit of the spirit (Gal. 5:22-23), therefore it is not of the Lord. The Bible says that the thief, the enemy, only comes to kill, steal, and destroy (John 10:10). He tries to block us from our purpose, our calling, and our best us that we can be. It brings doubt, fear, anger, bitterness, frustration, and judgment. It puts our focus on the negative and what we can’t do or be and takes it off of the positive of what we were created to do and be.

We cannot faithfully follow Jesus and fulfill our calling if we are comparing ourselves to others.

I was crippled by the spirit of comparison for years. Not just in my Spiritual walk, but in every area of my life. In jobs, relationships, friendships, dreams, goals, wants, desires, and passions. I compared myself to everyone, others compared me to everyone. Things were spoken over me that made me question myself and who I really was. My upbringing and the relationships that I was in made me question my worth and my potential. Everything we do and endure affects us one way or another, either good or bad, and it’s up to us to decide which way it will be.

Who would have thought that I would be sitting here writing a blog about how I never thought I could do it or would be able to? About how I doubted myself and compared my start to someone else’s check point or finish line. That I would be doing what was spoken over me and what I was called to do. Not me! But here I am, here we are!

Where comparison begins, contentment ends…

I pray that you release and shake off the spirit of comparison and no longer allow it to control you, your life, your potential, your calling, or your purpose. Be strong and courageous, be bold, be unique, be different, be obedient, be who He has called you to be, be YOU!

Step back and take a look at your life, your actions, and your behaviors. Your patterns and your cycles will tell you a lot about yourself and your thoughts and beliefs of yourself. They will show you the areas that you still need to heal and grow in. They will show you the root of your choices.

In what areas are you needing to stop comparing yourself to others? What things and desires do you need to stop envying?

Step back and take a real inside look at the life you are steadily comparing yours to. What do you know about them? What should you know about them? Maybe they have been in your shoes, maybe they can share with you how they overcame and what they went through to have the life that they now have.

Bottom line, their life is not ours and our life is not theirs. We were made to be different, made to be set apart. Don’t let the spirit of comparison hold you back or delay your promises and blessings from the Lord that He has personally for you. He knows the deepest desires of your heart; He sees you. But don’t let comparison become the idol of your heart instead of Him. You are only hindering yourself and delaying God to do what He wants to do just for you and through you!

We are all unique and we are all special. Know that you are fearfully and wonderfully made (Ps. 139:14). We are made in the image of Jesus, the only one we should ever compare ourselves to and strive to be more like every single day! The only one who defines our worth. The only one who can perfect our faith (Heb. 12:1-2).

How have you overcame the spirit of comparison? Share it with me here!