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Death to Comparison!
Comparison is something that is all around us. We are in a society that celebrates and endorses comparing one another. Honestly, comparison can be a hard thing to escape. For most of my life, I have struggled more with insecurity than pride, but both will cause you to compare. Neither is good, and both take the focus off of God and put it on ourselves.
Comparison is something that is all around us. We are in a society that celebrates and endorses comparing one another. Honestly, comparison can be a hard thing to escape. For most of my life, I have struggled more with insecurity than pride, but both will cause you to compare. Neither is good, and both take the focus off of God and put it on ourselves.
I have personally been intentional about not comparing myself or others in any way. I am in no way perfect, but it is something I have a high value for and correct as soon as I recognize it in my heart. I have come to a place where I can avoid it or quickly turn from it.
Recently, I have been working on how to respond when I am compared to others. I have come to this resolution that I will not be compared to anyone.
To be fair, when people do compare me against others, I do not think it is from a bad place; I think it is giving them language to complement or give me areas of improvement. While I appreciate their hearts, when they are talking about me to me, no one else needs to be brought into the conversation.
A couple of years ago, someone I respected kept comparing me to someone that I looked up to. It was not mean by any means, just pointing out that I was not yet where this person was in my development. But the person I was being compared to was twenty years older than me and had been singing and leading worship much longer than I had been. Honestly, in my heart, I had never considered comparing myself to this person, but once someone else compared me to them, those words kept going through my mind. “What if I could sing like them one day?”
All this did was make me strive and perform more.
I realized even if I was not the one starting the comparison, it was affecting me. God spoke to me in this season and told me that He did not want me to sing or lead like this person.
He wanted me to sing like me. He created my voice to be mine, unlike anyone else's. It can not be compared because there is none other like it.
Does this mean I was perfect and did not need improvement? Absolutely not! I will never arrive or not need to steward my voice. But, no matter how long or how hard I worked, I would never sing like my friend.
It is much more tempting to not receive the comparison when it is in favor of you. But comparison is comparison, and it is never something that we want to allow to cultivate in our hearts. There have been times when others have shared compliments with me, but they don’t just leave it as a compliment. Instead, they bring in someone else to compare me against. I choose to remember the compliment, not the comparison.
We have to be even more intentional and not fall into the temptation to allow encouragement through comparison to take root in our hearts.
We can accept the compliment and encouragement, but we can not let the comparison remain.
God has taught me two things through this:
God wants me to love my voice. There is no one else like me.
God wanted me to learn not to allow anyone to compare me to anyone else.
Someone can give me areas of improvement or encouragement without needing to compare me in any way to someone else, good or bad.
But what do I do when this is not the resolve of those around me, and I have people comparing me to others? Honestly, I thank them for their encouragement, and when they leave, I reject the comparison. I remind myself by declaring out loud that I will not be compared to anyone else. I focus on what was said without the mention of anyone else. What can I take from what they said to keep me encouraged or help me in my development? I also pray a blessing over whoever I was compared to and ask the Lord to continue to bless them.
Doing these things helps me keep my focus on God and how He has gifted us all differently and uniquely. It keeps me in a place of seeing Him rightly, seeing myself rightly, and seeing those around me rightly. I am thankful for those around me who are walking out in their callings and pursuing God with all that they are; I celebrate that!
Jesus is the ultimate goal. I want to see Him high and lifted up. When we all keep our focus on Him and do what He calls us to do, His glory will be on display. We are one body, and every part is needed.
Resolve to keep your focus on God and do and be who He has created you to be.
There is no one else like you; you cannot be compared!
