Once again, I find myself scrolling down Instagram and looking at everyone living their "best life". The endless pictures of: baby showers, weddings, graduations, new businesses, and travel posts. The trending reels where people are: singing, dancing, and preaching.
This is where I also see comparison beginning to creep in; the wondering in why I am not where God has promised me I’ll be. So many questions filled with uncertainty. “Is there something wrong with me?”. As I keep scrolling, unsatisfaction fills my heart. “If only I could be where they are or have what they have. My life would be better. "Every day, we watch the people we think we know appearing to live a stress-free life. However, we never really know what happens behind closed doors. We sometimes begin to convince ourselves that living someone else's life is the missing piece for our perfect life. We waste hours comparing ourselves because of the desire of wanting more or wanting to be more.
We assume having what others have will make us finally feel good enough.
But, The Bible does not mention the word, "comparison". Instead, it mentions the word, “covetousness”. Covetousness is the feeling of having a strong desire for the things that other people have. The reason why people fall into comparison is because of covetousness being the root issue that begins to reveal a void in a person. It begins to show the strong desire and the longing for something that will never bring true fulfillment. That is why we see people running from thing after thing; trying to gain from a world that at the end of the day will always lead to the comparison between themselves and others around them. Due to a lack of identity and a lack of understanding, people who tend to compare themselves always miss the point that true completeness and satisfaction only comes from the One who lay His life down. So we could become whole in Him where we are lacking nothing.
The Bible says in Ephesians 4:13-15, "until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ". Instead of measuring our lives to the standards of society, we instead need to measure our lives to the standard of Christ. There is a fullness in Christ that wipes away every emptiness, every void, and sense of incompleteness.
Stop fighting so intensely to be like someone else and strive to be more like Christ. Because in Christ, we understand that our fullness and satisfaction comes only from Him. Then, are we able to fulfill our God-given purpose.
The same chapter in Ephesians also says, 'but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ".
The goal is to grow into everything that Christ is. Once we learn that our main focus is to grow like Christ, the need to compare, disappears. Because there is a level of maturity where we begin to understand that we do not need the material things, or that we do not have to be like other people, or even do things to feel accepted and whole.
We can truly embrace the fullness of Christ and that is where absolute completeness comes in.
I encourage you to be like Christ. Begin to self-examine and ask yourself why you feel the need to compare yourself. What are the things or the areas that you feel you lack in? Find it all and bring it to the feet of Jesus. Allow the Lord to reveal the holes that are draining out His fullness in you. We can only overcome comparison when Jesus becomes our only fulfillment.
Comentarios