Comparisons

Hebrews 3, II Corinthians 10:12-18

My Loving Heavenly Father,

I see Your children bound by comparisons with others, crippling their faith and Christian walk.  Your Hebrew children got caught up in crippling comparisons during the Exodus and forty years of desert wanderings.  The Hebrews complained about food and water in the desert.  Their complaining was further heightened by comparisons of their desert lifestyle to the diet of slavery.  Garlic, onions, leeks, and melons became the targets of their Exodus food fantasies.  Baffling!  Comparison of desert deliverance to Egyptian slavery! Slavery superior to freedom!

God responded by sending manna, a heavenly bread that fed the people.  When bread was not enough, the Hebrews complained for meat.  God sent flocks of quail that the people gathered to eat their fill.  Thirst was satisfied with Your miracle springs of water.  Yet they complained.

Oh God, how petty and unappreciative my complaining must appear to You.  I find myself comparing my life to that of another.  I want something easier than the lot You have afforded me. I look at another coveting what peace, prosperity, or possessions they appear to have.  My covetous spirit gives birth to unthankfulness, ungratefulness, and unbelief.

The Hebrews complaints provoked Your judgment.  Moses responded with intercession.  Oh, God!  I don’t want to provoke Your judgment because of an unthankful, complaining spirit.  The Hebrews’ complaints led them down a path of rebellious straying from You, hardening their hearts all along the way.

The encroaching culture assaults me with comparisons.  Advertising, media, fashion, marketing, and retail promote comparisons.  The comparisons bombard me with messages of my inferiority, inadequacy, the product’s superiority, the spokesperson’s attractiveness, and my desperate need to acquire the product to make my life complete.  The seductive bait tempts my consumer mind until I yield.  Tragically, the glamorous potential of personal significance, worth, and value is never realized.  Empty, I pursue the next great bait and the illusion of satisfaction it offers.

Lord Jesus, I reject the worldly attitude of constant comparison to others.  Help me to live by faith in You, trusting You for Your provision and care in my life.  I confess the sin of comparing myself with others, my covetous spirit toward what others have and do, my unthankfulness and unbelief. Preserve me from hardening my heart and straying from You.  I choose to identify with You, Your cross, Your sufferings, Your sacrifice, and reject the idols of comparison and covetousness that will only harden my heart.

In the Name of my Heavenly Father, Your Son Jesus, and Your Holy Spirit,
Amen.