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Comparison
The Sin of the Foolish
by Pastor John Hamel
“For
we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some
that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and
comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.” (2Corinthians 10:12)
Are you the type of person who continually compares yourself to
others? Are you always grading or ranking yourself using other people as
your standard of measure? If so, God
has something He would like you to know.
He doesn’t approve of your behavior. He wants you to use the Bible
as your only standard of measure.
In the above verse of Scripture God makes Himself
perfectly clear. Those who
continually compare themselves to others are “unwise.” Unwise is just a polite word for
foolish. I cannot speak for you but
I sure don’t want Almighty God calling me a fool. That’s why I refuse every opportunity to
compare myself to others – for any reason. Ever.
Comparing ourselves to others will lead down one of two roads
-- the road to pride or the road to intimidation. There is no neutrality. I’ll
explain hypothetically using myself as an illustration.
If I were to look at another Bible Teacher and say, “What a
lousy Bible Teacher, he couldn’t teach his way out of a wet paper sack. He
could really learn something from someone like me. After all, nobody teaches it quite like I
do.” Well, guess what? I just fell victim to the ugly sin of pride and turned God and
everyone else off in the process.
The Bible says pride comes before destruction. (Proverbs 16:18) That means it won’t be long before God is
no longer able to honor me. He’ll
just have to allow me to make a public fool of myself because I refused to obey Him and stay out of pride.
On the other hand, I could look at another Bible Teacher and
say the following. “Man, I could never make things as clear as she
does. I could never open God’s Word
and show folks such simple application of complex truths. I could never
help folks like that.” Guess
what? I just fell
victim to the sin of intimidation.
Intimidation is rooted in fear. God has not given us the spirit of
fear. That comes from Satan. God has given us power, love and
soundness of mind in Christ Jesus. (2Timothy 1:7) Submitting to fear is actually releasing faith
in Satan’s ability to hinder God’s plan for
my life. That’s tantamount to saying
that Satan is more powerful than God! That line of thinking is simply not true and it spells trouble every
time.
Can you see it?
Comparison leads only to pride or intimidation. There is simply no
way in the world that comparing yourself to others
will not lead to one or the other.
No one ever compares themselves to another and says, “Well, will you
look at that. We are perfectly
identical in every way. We do
everything exactly alike, and perfectly, too. We are both absolutely
wonderful. Could we be twins?”
We all know that never happens. Comparison
leads only to pride or intimidation. Both are forbidden by Almighty God.
They are forbidden because He loves you and doesn’t want you to
be crushed by either.
God knew what He was doing when He made you just the way you
are. (Psalm 139)
He made you the way you are for a specific purpose. He has
a specific plan laid out just for you. (Ephesians 2:10)
You must have faith in that and never doubt it. God put
you where you are at this time in human history to represent Him to your
specific world of influence. There
are people all around you who will never come to know of Jesus if you don’t
tell them.
Don’t believe the lie
that people with more money are better than you. They are not. Don’t believe the lie that
because you have a few bucks you are better than others. You are definitely
not. (1Timothy 6:17,18)
The Bible says
the rich and the poor come together in the Lord. (Proverbs 22:2)
In the world’s eyes you might be a big shot. Possibly in the world’s eyes you are just
a little squirt. None of that
matters to God. From the outhouse to
the White House, in His eyes we are all the same. (Galatians 3:28) Jesus
said God loves everyone as much as He loves Jesus. (John 17:23)
Someone once said, “God don’t make no
junk!” That is the absolute best combination of horrible grammar and
beautiful truth I’ve ever heard!
Do the job God placed you in the Earth to do. Do it with excellence as unto Jesus. (Colossians
3:17,23) Make the most of every opportunity to talk to people about salvation in Christ. No need to be obnoxious and force
yourself on folks. No need to try to create opportunities on your own.
Ask the Lord to give you opportunity to
speak to them and He will. Then wait.
When He does, just step right through that open door and share Jesus
with them. (Galatians 6:10) Then see
if they are in need of prayer
so God can glorify Himself on their behalf.
That will convince them every time.
We call it “Power Evangelism.” God makes it easy for you and then He gives you all the credit for doing
it. No muss, no fuss, no need for comparison. Just you and the Holy Spirit
doing what you were birthed into the Earth to do – plunder Hell to populate Heaven.
Your time in the Earth is a Probationary Period. You are determining how you are going to
spend Eternity while you are still here on Earth. That’s right. God has not predetermined how you are
going to spend Eternity. You are determining that for yourself right now.
Comparison with others is intended of Satan to mess up your future in
Heaven. He knows he can’t keep you
out of Heaven. He knows the best he
can do now is mess things up for you when you get there. He knows the degree you are walking with Jesus
now is determining the degree you will walk with Him then. The very thought
of that makes him miserable. He’s determined to stumble
you through the illegal use of comparison.
There’s a Judgment of all Believers
in Christ coming soon. (2Corinthians 5:8) It’s a Judgment where
rewards are given or taken away.
It’s all based upon how effectively you
used your Probationary Period on Earth to get the Word out about
Jesus. (Mark 16:15-20)
Comparing yourself to others is Satan’s way of getting you into
big trouble with God today and on Judgment Day.
Comparison blocks the spout
where God’s help comes out. You simply cannot do what He’s called you to do
without His help.
So pull the plug on comparison and throw it in the trash
where it belongs. That will allow the power of God
to begin to flow into your life again.
Say, “Jesus, You’re my choice” if He’s not
yet your Savior. That will put you immediately into His Family.
Then run
from comparison every time the opportunity presents itself.
Run from it
like it was a curse.
It is. It’s the sin of the
foolish!
Be wise
and be blessed ... John and Barbara Hamel
How
to Be Born Again (Receive Christ as Your Savior)
How
to Receive The Holy Spirit & Power
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