NO! You’re not ok!

Why do we do it? Why do we compare ourselves with other believers? I was speaking with my friend; brother and my accountability for my Christian walk today. I just want it to go on record that it was his idea for this blog today, not mine. I had to do a lot of soul searching on this one.
Normally when I write, it’s something that inspired me that day or God put into my head. If God puts it there, I know for a fact it’s something I’m probably a little rusty about. Matter of fact, I think everything I write about is an area that I probably could use some work in.
My friend suggestion was along the line of “I’m not ok”. Don’t read between the lines there, he doesn’t think that I’m not ok but he made a valid point. Am I ok? As we talked we spoke of how we use people to make us feel better. They look around at other believers and say, “I’m better than them because....”.
Why do we do it? Why do we compare ourselves with other believers? Since I have done this once or twice (HA), I will tell you why.
Because...................................
So we can see our progress; to see whether we are moving in our spiritual life in relation to others; we compare ourselves with others around us to see where we fit with those around us—actually a good thing if it spurs others genuinely toward spiritual growth.

Mentors in the Lord are good (I seem to have a lot of them) but the downside is that they are not perfect—they will fail, they will have a bad day sometimes. The danger in this temptation is that our constant comparing ourselves with others helps us self-justify our lack of spiritual growth—after all, one might say, I am not a spiritual giant, but I am not as bad as you—not something we would say out loud, but we do the math in our heads all the time.

So here are the dangers of Comparing Ourselves with Others. We may become self-satisfied spiritually, “I’m alright—as good as the pastor’s wife, as good as the Board members”. When we keep our eyes on other people, we will be disappointed—people will fail us, they will hurt us sometimes.
We may base our attitude of forgiveness on what others do, have you ever met bitter Christians? I have and it’s not pretty. When you and I are self-justifying, we will find any excuse to do what we want to do

One of the biggest dangers of comparing ourselves with others is that we might be tempted to base our level of spiritual growth on the Lowest Common Denominator around us.
In the Scripture, Nicodemus: A Pharisee of the Pharisees and part of the Sanhedrin.
In John 3 When all the other Pharisees wrote Jesus off as one who was dangerous to Judaism, Nicodemus sought Jesus out. He didn’t look at what everyone else was doing; he listened to the promptings of the Holy Spirit and went to Jesus. He risked in faith, and Jesus told him more clearly than anyone else, that if you want to know what God desires, you have to be born again.
Jesus told him that with God, we have to recognize we have to start over—as a baby—helpless except for the hands of a loving Father. Nicodemus didn’t compare himself with the other men of the ruling council and say to himself, “at least I’m as holy as them”—he risked in faith, and Jesus helped him realize what true faith was.

So how do we live in Christian Community yet not compare ourselves with others? How do we not begin to gauge ourselves against others and become spiritually satisfied?
Hebrews 12:1-2
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses -(Those who by faith accepted what God wanted for their lives—those who didn’t compare themselves and became spiritually self-satisfied) 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. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith…”
Hey! You got issues? We all got issues! I got these i – shoes on my feet! Ok, bad attempt at humor but I said it to remind you to run! Not just run though....with perseverance. That’s attitude! That’s letting Jesus set the pace and RUN! He’s already marked it for us....so RUN! Fix your eyes on Jesus and RUN!
I don’t know about you but I’m out of breath just thinking about all this running were doing!
All this is saying is to look at Jesus...his Character. John 1 tells us that Jesus is God in the flesh, and the fullest manifestation of who God is. He is the model. Leave off your entanglements. The writer of Hebrews says in verse 1, “throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles”
Leave off the lies of Satan that say, “You aren’t so bad…I mean you are more spiritual than her…I mean you may not be a super believer but you are ok.” Believe that garbage and you’re not OK!
Leave off the lie that says, “take it easy spiritually…don’t worry about growth in Christ—after all you did say a sinners prayer—you do come to church almost every Sunday..”
Defeat temptation; claim the promise of I Corinthians 10:13—that God is inviting you to obedience!
Obey His Leading.
Will you trust him enough to obey?
We can be afraid of what God is asking of us, but will we be obedient?
Will we love others like He asks us to?
Will we Risk in faith like those listed in Heb. 11?
When you and I stand before the throne of God on Judgment day, He will not ask what everyone else did; He will only be interested in you. Let’s kill the temptation to compare.
And no, you’re not OK..... Your God’s Kids! That makes you great!