Freedom from Comparison and Being Like Everyone Else

I don't remember the first time I compared myself to someone else. I was probably very young and it was probably over something very silly. Maybe someone had a nicer tricycle than I did. Maybe someone was better at using a router in shop class. Perhaps a colleague was better at mock debate in Washington D.C. There's no way I can forget the athletes that were better than me on the court in high school. After reading a Taste & See Article by John Piper, I can see that comparison of myself to another mortal is bondage. It is a unique slavery in that it has the power to hold us back, and drive us forward. Yet, it is still slavery. In the article entitled "What is That to You? You Follow Me!", Piper illustrates the statements of Christ to Peter. (John 21:18-22) Peter had compared himself to another and Jesus quickly cast that bondage aside. "What is it to you?", Jesus said. What is it to me? What power do I have over another? What gain is there in comparable to someone else? When I compare myself to a person, I either put them on a pedastal on which they do not belong or beneath me, which is a place they do not belong either. Performance driven by comparison is slavery. Anything good, comes from the Father of Lights (James 1:17). Anything worth emulating, is simply emulating the character of Christ. What is it to me, what the Lord chooses to do with another?...nothing. There is only the call to follow Jesus.

Lord Jesus, please squelch the comparitive nature within me. I submit it to you. I long to be free from that which entangles and hinders my stroll in the garden with you.

(Hebrews 12:1)
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race MARKED OUT FOR US."

Click here for the Piper article.