TOPIC: COMPARISON
TEXT : 2 Corinthians 10:12 For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.
Memory Verse : Isaiah 40:18 To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him?
FOCUS
In this series we are going to be examining enemies of gratitude and how it affects destiny at the long run. The first enemy we are looking at today is comparison. Comparison is when you are measuring yourself with another person’s scale, equating yourself with someone else. A wise man said, there are age mates but no grace mates; there could be people that have same certificate but productivity can never be thesame. No wonder Paul planted, Apollo watered but God gave the increase.
The day you start comparing yourself, you will stop thanking God. Thanksgiving is personal that is why it is those who know how to think that will thank well. Your Thanksgiving is proportional to your thinking pattern. But immediately you introduce comparison to your mental faculty, your gratitude will diminish, you will never see anything good about yourself, you will always see every other people better than you.
I want you to check yourself this morning and ask yourself, where are you comparing yourself to other people. Comparison will rob you of Thanksgiving, make you feel you have not done anything, make you feeling like God has not been faithful to you, comparison will make you look like an achiever when it is ? of God. No one can be compared to God, He gave every man according to His several abilities.
When gratitude is not high, comparison will set in. Comparison is so bad that it will make you see the good in others and never see the good in yourself. You will be so ashamed of yourself and not even know you are depriving yourself. Don’t forget, comparison is an enemy of gratitude.
LESSON
Judges 8:2 And he said unto them, What have I done now in comparison of you? Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer?
You have to understand that sometimes in life, there is this silent rivalry between people. People feel this person is better and it causes rivalry. Where there’s rivalry there will always be comparison. Comparison is not just that you are measuring with the other person, you will become jealous, envious and if care is not take, you can’t be jealous and appreciate the person.
Comparison will make you never to be grateful to God. You will always have this feeling of; how I wish it is me God did this for, how I wish this and that. In that process, you have robbed yourself of thanksgiving.
Comparison is so dangerous that it will always make you feel one is better than the other. That is why the Bible says there are four things that can never be satisfied; barren womb, grave. This is because when you are living a life that you are never contended, you are going to compare. From comparison to jealousy, from jealousy to envy and you become so frustrated that you will have no reason to thank God.
God wants us to be grateful of the things He has done. He wants us to be mindful of our abilities and appreciate Him for the grace He has given to us as individuals. The year is running to an end, I want you to take stock of your life and appreciate God not in comparison or in the light of the other person, not in questioning because these are the enemies of gratitude.
PERSONAL CONFESSION
I receive divine help to shun every spirit of comparison in my life.
PRAYER FOCUS
Father deliver me from comparing myself with another person.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Comparison will kill your gratitude. Beware!
Gratitude brings Altitude.
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