Last week there was an article in the morning paper about a teenager who had just completed climbing the last of the 14ers...the tallest mountains in the region. I think he was sixteen!
And as I marvelled at his achievement, I grimmaced at my own. This week I will probably make it up my first 14er...by vehicle. Hmm.
And I checked out facebook and saw the bylines of an old friend who is pastoring on the west coast and doing well...and I wondered, am I doing as well? Do I look as young? And I carried that process with me a few times as the week unfolded.
And I could go on...the achievements of others can lead us to self-analysis that is healthy - and push us to improvement, or can cause us to self-depricate, and stall us out emotionally, choking off our energy.
Compare.
Am I as smart as she?
Am I as attractive as he?
Am I as successful as they are?
Had I done that much by that age?
Am I as young-looking as that picture in the paper?
Bigger, better, richer, happier, influential?
It comes at us all the time....star-studded opportunities to compare.
Have you lost some ground today because of comparing?
Here is some sage advice:
"We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves they are not wise." St. Paul
It is the wisdom of the Bible - II Corinthians 10:12ff
And the helps Paul lists in this passge?
1. Be who you are wherever you are - :11
2. Do not get into any boasting - it is a product of comparing
3. Make sure you are doing what "God has assigned" for you to do
4. Know your "limits" - and pull back if you sense you are moving beyond them.
5. Remember often..."it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends." :18
Selah..
David
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1 comment:
Pride, I believe, is what you are addressing without quite saying so. It can cause envy when we know we aren't "up" at the same level as another in some category. It can result in deriving satisfaction from the differential of "me up here - you down there," when we feel we are above another. Being more fully aware of that propensity is a big step in training the mind to toss those kinds of thoughts in the garbage as soon as we feel ourselves slipping over the "line." Pride fractures humanity in strife, it blinds, and is hugely dangerous to the soul.
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