Danger of Comparisons

Philippians 3:12-16 (ESV)
¹² Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.
¹³ Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,
¹⁴ I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
¹⁵ Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you.
¹⁶ Only let us hold true to what we have attained.

LOOKING TO THE SIDE

I have recently been reminded of the danger of comparing ourselves with each other.  While such comparisons can be good in that a little competitive spirit can bring out the best in us, there is a double-edged danger to this.

On the one hand, I can get an inflated ego and full of pride as I see how much better I am than others at a given task.  On the other hand I can become discouraged and want to give up as I see how much better others are.

In our Thai class the other day, we were learning the expression to say: “In the past I was ___ but now I am ___.”

I remember as a child that I was not very good in sports and so I gave up on them completely.  The taunts and jeers kept me from wanting to participate.  I was better academically, but there were always those better than me and even though I was near or at the top of the class in some subjects, I always felt that I was behind.  In this case though I was confident enough to benefit from a competitive spirit.

LOOKING FORWARD

In the passage above, Paul reminds us that our eyes ought to be looking forward toward Jesus.  Jesus is our standard, not others.  Paul says in the following verses that people would do good to imitate him, but only as much as he follows Jesus.

Having Jesus as our example could be discouraging, as the goal of imitating Him seems impossible to attain.  Indeed, it is impossible to attain on our own, and so it should give us humility as EVERY ONE OF US, even Paul, need to depend on the power of the Holy Spirit to become like Christ.  But this also gives us hope, because the same Holy Spirit is available to all—even to the lowliest and most awful sinner among us.  I can do no more to earn my salvation to anyone else.

LOOKING BACKWARD

While Paul tells us to forget what lies behind, he is telling us not to go back to our old way of life.  We don’t want to be like the Israelites, wandering in the desert wishing they were back in Egypt, rather than moving forward towards the promised land..

But one can be encouraged by looking back just to see what progress has been made.

I like to climb mountains.  But sometimes it seems like we walk for hours and seem to be no closer to our goal.  Then, all of a sudden we get to a viewpoint where we can see where we came from.  At that point we realize that, while we have not reached the top—and we may not even know how far ahead it is—we have come a long ways.



Columbia Rock--an encouraging point on the challenging hike to the top of Yosemite Falls

Learning Thai is like climbing a mountain.  If I look at the task ahead of me, it seems like I can never become fluent.

If I look to the side at others around me learning the language, I see those that are further along and those that are further behind.  There is not much value in making these comparisons—I can become either prideful or discouraged.  If I must look to the side, it should be either to give encouragement to others or to receive encouragement from them.

What does encourage me is when we are asked a question that I don’t know how to answer, but then I realize that at least I understand most of the words in the question, which I would not have been able to understand a week ago.  I am moving forward, even if I have not arrived.

BALANCE

In general, I like to:

• Remember where I came from,
• Live in the present
• Move forward towards the goal
• Encourage and be encouraged by those around me