Have you ever been in a season where you were contending for something in an area of you life and then all of the sudden it seems as though everyone around you seemed to be getting breakthrough in that very area? I know I have!
I have GOOD news for your sister. When you feel the weight of comparison begin to overshadow you, you don’t have to stay there. In fact, because of God’s God’s mercy and kindness, He always gives us a way out. In that moment you will face two options. Either you can choose defeat and believe that your chance for a blessing has passed you by, or you can stand beside your sister in Christ and celebrate their victory and then choose to believe that their testimony is prophesying that God can do it again in your life!
This is what I know about God. He is no respecter of people. He doesn’t choose to bless someone more because that person loves Him more, reads their bible more, does good things for others more. It’s never been about how good we are- it’s always just been about how good HE is. God is good. Period. And that HAS to be the foundation on which we stand. External circumstances should never be the meter on which you determine how loved and seen by God you are. The truth is, you are God’s favorite! His chosen one, His beloved! So when you see Him bless someone else, it’s not because of anything you’ve done wrong, it’s actually because of how Good He is and what a beautiful invitation we get in that moment to step into someone’s testimony and celebrate WITH them!
God has a specific plan and process for your life. He has a route only you can go on and thrive in. YOU have a God lane that has been prepared for only you!
Jeremiah 29:11 says “I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.”
What a promise! That even when it “feels” like everyone around us is prospering, we also have the same promise, it will just look different!
So how do we overcome comparison? Here are some practical tools below that have helped me in my walk in this area!
1) Choose to celebrate! Comparison will always lead to introspection and make it about us, but when we celebrate someone else it makes it about how GOOD God is! It always points us back to God and realigns our perspective. The more you choose to celebrate someone, the easier it will become.
“Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15).
2) Choose humility. The truth is, none of us really deserve anything. BUT because of Jesus and what He paid for, we are beneficiaries of His inheritance! Humility keeps our heart in check.
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.” (Philippians 2:3-4).
3) Remain thankful for what you do have. Comparison is the byproduct of a lack mentality. It believes that there isn’t enough for everyone to go around. But our God is the God of more than enough and the God of abundance. There is no lack in heaven! When comparison tries to have you focus on what you don’t have, use thankfulness as a tool to remind yourself what you do have! Some practical ways to do this are writing things down on a piece of paper or verbally saying what you’re thankful for out loud!
“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).
4) Renew your mind with your truth! Romans 12:12 says “…that we transformed by the renewing of our mind.” Dive into scriptures and start reading and meditating on these types of verses that will help you remember that God has a plan for your life and desires for you to flourish!
5) Take a social media break! Maybe you need to detox from the gram and Facebook. Ask the Lord if this is something He’s calling you to do for some time!
6) Pray. Pray and ask the Lord to help you in this area. Pray that He would refine and prune your heart so that you can look more and more like Jesus (and bear more fruit!). “Ask you shall receive, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you.” (John 15, Matthew 7:7).
God has you on the path you are on for a purpose. Your process is beautiful! Be content with where you are while celebrating where others are going. Your security is in Christ! I pray that God would fill your heart with strength to overcome comparison and faith to believe that you are where you need to be and you have everything you need to thrive in the season God has placed you in!
Jenessa is a wife, mother, hand-letterer and speaker who believes that encouragement and truth of God has the power to change the way we live! She started her hand lettering journey in 2015 as a hobby and it quickly turned into a business as well a way to bring encouragement into people’s lives and homes. She has a strong passion to impact the way people think about who they are and what they’re destined for. When she’s not creating, her and her husband pastor a young adults group at a local church in Austin, TX where they reside.
Follow Jenessa on instagram @jenessawait
Hello
My name is Sarah, I’m 15 years old from Australia. Recently I have fallen into a deep hole of comparison at school with my friends. I always arrive at all my classes thinking they are better then me at all things whether that’s math, art, english etc. This has resulted in me thinking I am worthless, talentless and useless however this message today really helped me. I love Jeremiah 29:11 because God promises us that He has a plan for our own life. This also applies to our families, friends and communities life. They have a purpose for their life. I have a two friends one Christian and one not who are so amazing at art. Instead of comparing myself to them, I should always celebrate with them. I will try and remember this message the next I try to compare myself.
Thank you Sadie and Jenessa, God Bless You Girls!!!!!!!
This is an excellent read. I love that Jenessa states to “be content with where you are now while celebrating where others are going.” Social media, truth be told, is to blame nowadays. We compare and contrast our lives with filtered pictures, nicely put graphics, soft pretty colors, etc and it exhaust us. It steals our joy because we compare. And then it puts us in a mentality that we got to level up our game, and do more, more, more. This is encouraging and uplifting. I need to be reminded of this daily. I absolutely love her heart and passion for Jesus. Women like her are who I love to celebrate and learn from.
Wow!! That was awesome & I needed to hear that!! I struggle with comparison & have been praying about it. I just finished a month long break from social media & it really helped, thinking I may need to do it again ?
As concerning the Word of life, Luke 10 section 25-28 says: On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” He answered: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.'” “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
Luke 18 section 18-25 says: A certain ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good–except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.'” “All these I have kept since I was a boy,” he said. When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was a man of great wealth. Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
Matthew 5 section 43-48 says: “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
In Old Testament, the Jewish people and their ancestors were given the Law to observe. First, What Adam and Eve should observe was that they could not eat the fruits from the tree of wisdom. Then, their son Cain was told that he should not kill. As sins became increased, the laws were also added more. Up to the generation of Moses, the Law in Old Testament was given to Israelites. We know that the Law is good and the Law is used to punish people who commit sins, but people cannot obey the Law because the sinful spirits are in people. Even that we know stealing and giving false testimony are sinful, but greedy and pride spirits in us drive us to do sinful things. So as Old Testament prophesied we need to get rid of our sinful nature from our spirits.
Jeremiah 31 section 31-33 says: “The time is coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord. “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
Ezekiel 36 section 24-27 says: “‘For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.
The prophecies are fulfilled when Jesus begins to teach love. The two greatest commandments are ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.'” Love is above the Law and if people have love they are free from the law of sin and death. People who are full of love will not think about stealing or giving false testimony but are merciful and they feed hungry people or give thirsty people something to drink or invite strangers in or clothe people who need clothes. The Law is for people who commit sins. Nobody will say that he will get reward because he does not steal before. But love is the grace we get. And with love we will get eternal life.
Romans 13 section 8-10 says: Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet,” and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
Luke 17 section 20-21 says: Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say,’ Here it is,’ or ‘ There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is within you.”
John 4 section 23-24 says: Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”
This is SO good! And so true, we sometimes find ourselves comparing. But that’s when we should look up to God and see that we are beautiful, loved, and priceless to Him! <3