Tis the Season to NOT Compare

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Comparison is something that plagues me from time to time often and I’m sure even those of you reading this have had to deal with the nasty thoughts of feeling like you don’t measure up to others before. Women especially place so much importance on how others perceive us and we try so desperately to fit in, to be beautiful and thin, to look like we have it all together, to maintain a successful career and we feel we must buy every fabulous thing that all of our friends have. I mean, this country prides itself on the motto “keeping up with the Joneses” so it’s not hard to let the comparison enemy enter our lives.

With Christmas just around the corner, our tvs are overrun with ads for the next big gadget and great buy; we constantly see the “perfect” family depicted and wish our family was as brilliant, fun, put together as the one on tv, and we begin to place ourselves into categories: haves vs. have nots, successful vs. lacking success, happy vs. faking happiness…my list could go on and on. Well I want to tell you all that none of that matters! NONE OF IT! All that matters is that you are uniquely you and Jesus loves you for you. He is the reason for this Christmas season.

Jesus didn’t die to only save Susie who wears a size 2 and has blonde hair. He didn’t go to the cross to only forgive all of the sins of Jack who gets first place in every competition he enters or to save Nancy who can buy her children every toy they want. No, Jesus died for ALL of us! He died to save us. He loves us the way we are, He wants us to be completely in love with ourselves too. As a Christian, I find my worth in God, in knowing that He loved me so much (all the messiness of my life and all) that He sent His only son to the cross to save me! And He did the same for you too. We don’t need to compare ourselves to others because if the world was full of people who looked and acted just like us, we would probably annoy everyone and the world would be pretty boring. We all bring something unique and wonderful to the world.

I came across a great verse that really hit home to me:  “Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else.” ~Galatians 6:4 This verse can apply to our daily lives, not just our work lives. The bible clearly instructs us to not compare ourselves to others. The work we do is enough. It matters to Jesus and it should matter to you too. We need to get our eyes (and minds) off of other people around us and focus on what we can do, what God equipped us with and use that! He’s crazy about you after all.

I hope you find some comfort in this blog post today. Thanks for letting me go a little deeper and share what is on my heart. If you have any encouraging scriptures or quotes, I’d love to hear them; leave them in the comment section below.