May 11, 2012 - The Curse Of Comparison

Good morning - if you don't go to New City Church, please pray for us. Today we bury, at noon, our third family member in 8 weeks. But I must say, what a spectacular day for a home-going service. It's absolutely beautiful here. But of course, Mr. Jim opened his eyes and saw God early last Saturday morning. This service is about honor and saying good-bye. Thanks for your prayers. This has been three months of really tough pastoral issues for me, including the three deaths. I think one of the things we do from a young age is compare. I think our parents instilled that in us........."you're big sister played varsity ball; you're brother makes all A's; if you could crawl as fast as others." I don't think we realize the curse of comparison. In my life I was always looking at others and "wishing" I could look like them, act like them, BE THEM. I have battled MY ENTIRE life with wanting to be someone else. Maybe you see yourself in that? Let me remind us all from Psalm 139 that God wonderfully created us and breathed life into us. His stamp of approval is upon us. He sketched our face in His book before he implanted us in the womb of our mothers. He KNOWS and HE LOVES us for who HE created us to be..........not who WE covet to be. OUCH! When we take our eyes and place them on what God "seemingly" has done for others - money, body, marriage, etc - we basically say, "Thanks, God.....but what you did for me (or are doing) is really not good enough." That is SO not true! Instead, we must realize that God has plans to do good by us and give us a good hope and a good future regardless of what our circumstances say AT THIS MOMENT! I heard Jentzen Franklin say one time, "if any two of us are identical, then one of us is unnecessary." Preach that! Always coveting what others have or what THEY look like can REALLY be a curse in our lives. I tell you - it's a major distraction. Now, I really believe we need to look the best we can, work as hard as we can, and enjoy life to the best of our abilities! That means eating well, working hard, resting well, and laughing a lot! We were created to be US -- the BEST US WE CAN BE - but we were not created to be someone else. I think comparing ourselves and "wishing" we were different never communicates to God how GRATEFUL we are that He chose to be our Father and adopt us. Remember, he looked out, saw each of us, and brought us unto himself. And, he didn't do this because we are ROCK STARS. Come on, let's kill the comparison curse and learn to love ourselves and appreciate who we are. Remember.......you can never look in two directions at one time. You cannot look at others and compare AND look at God at the same time and say THANKS. If we are looking at others all the time, we cannot look up as we need to. And our help comes from above! Lift up your eyes today. Comparison only drags our eyes in a wrong direction! PK