How You Live: A 5-Day Reading PlanSample

# DAY FOUR: Comparison ## by Denise Jones It’s no surprise that most women struggle with the problem of comparing themselves to each other. Why? Because it’s one of the slyest ways in which the enemy steals our joy and keeps us from doing the unique things that God created us to do for His glory. And it’s not just the enemy who tempts us to doubt that we’re made for a specific purpose and design. You and I are also to blame. Boiled down, the root issue with comparison is sin. God says so many times in Scripture that we aren’t to covet what others have. I don’t know about you, but I have certainly coveted the gifts that God has given others. Shelley has a gift for hospitality, Leigh has a gift for organization, another friend always seems to know the right thing to say in any situation, while someone else can sing circles around me. Not that we can’t learn things from others, but when my focus is to try and mold myself into their image instead of Christ’s image, I am the one who loses myself in the midst of it all. Trying to be like someone else has not only sucked the joy out of my life, but it has caused me to get depressed and even jealous of the good that happens in the lives of others. It’s ugly! “Stay in your lane”—every time I hear this well-known phrase, I laugh a little. There’s so much truth to the statement. God has created a lane for us all—a path He wants us on. But when we cross into someone else’s lane, there is always some sort of wreck. If I’m so focused on the car next to me because it seems prettier, classier, cooler, or whatever, instead of the road God has put in front of me , I’ll miss the very wonderful and exciting journey God has planned personally for my life, not to mention the lives He wants me to minister to. With comparison, the biggest lesson I can hand down is found in 1 Peter 4:10: “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others . . .” (NIV). Use the gifts God has specifically given you to serve others, knowing that God’s gifts to each person are varied. And that’s a good thing or else both you and I would be redundant in this world! And in the end, we are all trying to look like Jesus instead of someone else anyway! ### READ Proverbs 14:30 Galatians 6:4-5 ### PRAY Heavenly Father, I confess I’ve fallen into the trap of sinful comparison. Forgive me for coveting that which you’ve given to others. Help me to use the gifts you’ve given me to serve others and glorify you. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.