Contentment is Killed by Comparison

What is this feeling in my chest?

I recognize the tension of comparison that is sneaking in and stealing my joy.

It leads me to envy almost every time I choose to compare. The enemy has been beating me here in this space where comparison becomes something more sinister and wants to hang around my heart.

I don’t want to let him beat me anymore.

I keep falling into this trap, and I have got to learn to fight back.

The comparison trick that Satan traps us with, especially women, isn’t about what he can get us to look at and want, it’s really about what he can get us to look away from.

Once our enemy gets us to look away from what God has given us and get it out of focus, it’s just a hop skip and a jump to get us to envy what God gave someone else.

I’m going to fight back with focus. Focus on my life, the story God wrote for me. As soon as I recognize my own selfishness leading me to envy or when my enemy whispers in my ear with “why don’t you have that?”, I am going to readjust my gaze to what God gave ME. I’m going to thank God out loud.

I am not equipped to live her life. God didn’t make me for her circumstances or her people. He made me for mine. If I can focus on the blessings and opportunities right in front of me, I can stop wasting energy on things that aren’t mine.

"When they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding."

2 Corinthians 10:12

We aren’t supposed to measure ourselves by each other and compare, when we do, it shows that we don’t get it. We literally aren’t comprehending the gospel. I haven’t earned anything; everything is a gift!

If I really think about it , I don’t want the gifts God gave someone else. I want what He chose for me. God has given me what is going to fill my soul with what it needs. Notice I didn’t say what my soul wants. God picks what I need because He knows me enough to know that I won’t pick it. There are things in my story that my soul needs to grow. They are every bit as valuable gifts from my father as the things I count as blessings. He gives an abundance of things that I automatically see as blessings, and because I automatically see that those gifts, I often fail to habitually recognize them. When I don’t recognize and acknowledge them, I take them for granted.

Hear this:

 God is too good to give you things that are not good for your soul.

 He is not going to feed your idols. That isn’t good for your soul.

If you are like me, I stumble back into sins that are patterns for me. Envy is one of mine. So I am not here to guilt you, or to guilt me. I’m here to say: Hey, I did this again. I’m so glad that I can get back up. I’m so glad my Dad will open his arms wide and declare me forgiven and help me refocus.

He will do this for you too. So let it go…

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart,

and do not lean on your own understanding.

In all your ways acknowledge Him,

And He will direct your paths.”

Proverbs 3:5&6

Acknowledge Him! Focus on Him, realize He is working, praise Him, give Him thanks for the things He is doing. Acknowledging God is key to beating envy. He has a plan, it is the best plan, acknowledge all that He is and praise Him.

Stand here with me and tell Satan we see his tricks, and we aren’t falling for it today. We are focusing on what God has given just for us, the things right in front of us. We are going to focus on them, and they will fill us.

 Steal this Prayer:

God thank you that I have weapons to wage war that aren’t of the flesh;

they are mighty to destroy strongholds.

Help me destroy envy in my heart.

Strengthen me to take my thoughts captive and make them obedient to Christ.

Teach me to reset my gaze on You, acknowledging what you have given specifically to me, both my blessings and my purpose.

Make me fit for what you have called me to be.