A Good Comparison to Make

I hope you had a wonderful Easter weekend. He is risen!

Devotion for the Week...

I'm sure you've heard the saying, 'comparison is the thief of joy.' We've all experienced the truth of it, at one time or another, when someone's vacation pictures made us resent our regular week of work, or someone else's success made us feel less-than because our own achievements didn't seem to measure up. It's a horrible feeling, isn't it? Especially considering we may have been feeling perfectly content with our lives just moments earlier, until comparing ourselves with someone else took the shine off what we have. Comparing our ordinary days with someone else's highlight reel will never bring us joy.

There is one kind of comparison that is helpful, though. I'm currently reading a couple of stanzas of Psalm 119 each day and two verses of the first stanza really stood out. "Oh, that my actions would consistently / reflect your decrees! / Then I will not be ashamed / when I compare my life with your commands" (Psalm 119:5-6). Comparing ourselves to someone else is pointless. Comparing ourselves to God's standard and His desire for our lives? That's extremely valuable. 

How do we measure up against His command to love one another (John 13:34-35)? Or His command to forgive one another (Ephesians 4:32)? What about the greatest commandment - to love Him with everything we have (Matthew 22:36-40)?

Of course, in order for our actions to consistently reflect His decrees, we have to know what those decrees are. So how are we doing with reading and studying His word, to learn how He wants us to live? After all, Psalm 119:106 reminds us that His "word is a lamp to guide [our] feet and a light for [our] path." 

This isn't a comparison we make to beat ourselves up when we fall short (because we know we will fall short sometimes). When that happens, we confess and seek forgiveness, then aim to do better in the future. I love the honesty at the end of that first stanza of Psalm 119, which says, "As I learn your righteous regulations, / I will thank you by living as I should! / I will obey your decrees. Please don’t give up on me!" (vv. 7-8).

We know that God won't give up on us. In Philippians 1:6 Paul assures us "I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns."