When you hear the word "comparison", do you naturally think "is the thief of joy" in your mind? Sometimes I do, and I bet I'm not the only one. It's like that phrase has been repeated so many times that one no longer exists without the other.
I once read a blog post that talked about comparison NOT being the thief of joy. The post was very good, and the author made excellent points. In some scenarios, she is completely correct, but seeing as I have a post all about how comparison IS the thief of joy, obviously I don't believe that our views are mutually exclusive. Either view can be true. It simply depends on the circumstances.
You see, when Daisy (the author) talks about comparison in a positive light, she is speaking to the fact that if comparison leads us to be introspective and see areas in our own lives that need improvement, then it's a good thing. We need to look into our hearts and lives and make sure we are living well. And I have no arguments there.
But today, I'm focusing on the negative side of comparison. The type of comparison that is ungodly. Because that type of comparison really is the thief of joy, and we need a battle plan against it. But in order to battle against something, we first have to recognize it for what it is. So today, I'm going to explain the traits of ungodly comparison so that you can recognize it and stop it in it's tracks.
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Eliminates gratefulness
When we start comparing ourselves to others, or our possessions to those of another, we begin to covet. We begin to feel like what we have is not enough, and think we need more.This attitude keeps us focused on our wants instead of focusing on be grateful for all the good we've already received. We convince ourselves that we need to work harder so we can buy more or be more- only to forget that we have enough and we are enough in Christ.
Hinders Creativity
When we start comparing ourselves to others, we forget to be ourselves. We loose pieces of ourselves that make us amazing and unique, because we are too busy trying to be like someone else.We change our blogging style to match that of another blogger. We change our attitude to match that of someone we work with. We change our personallity so that someone we look up to will accept us. But when we start comparing ourselves to others, we will lose our creativity and will fall into the boring sea of people who conform to please others.
Diminishes Confidence
When we compare ourselves to others, it can diminish our confidence. We think "why am I not as successful as they are", or "my marriage isn't as good as theirs is". And while it can be good to take a moment to see if we can learn from how they accomplished that success, and maybe we will find that we need to make some changes, we still have to remember that we cannot compare our beginning or middle to someone else's ending. I know it sounds cliche', but it's still very true. And we need to keep remembering that.Strains Community
When we are so busy comparing ourselves to others, we can easily develop a competitive attitude against them. This causes us to have wrong focus and spend our time trying to one-up those we feel are better than us. And that, dear friends, does anything except build community. In fact, it often causes strife that never would have been there otherwise.The short of all of this, is that comparison (the negative kind) messes with you, your relationships, and your mindset. It causes you unnecessary hardships, envy, and lack of gratefulness. But if we can learn to look at other's successes, learn from them and better ourselves because of their example, but then move on from any negative thinking that may come at us, we will be far better off. We will find that we are happier, more grateful, and more at ease.
