Comparison Is A Thief

Is comparison hindering your spiritual growth?

1 Corinthians 3:1-4 
(1) And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
(2) I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
(3) For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
(4) For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?

Comparison is a carnal action. And carnal Christians cannot grow. They are stuck in the same place with the same level of understanding, because they are so focused on the physical things that they take no heed to the spiritual. 

Paul spent time investing in these people, but they couldn’t get past the trap of comparison. For whatever reason, it suddenly became important that they make distinctions among themselves. 

This could be comparing physical blessings, ministry work, family, who led us to Christ, or even your spiritual walk. But Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 10:12 that it is not wise to do so.
“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.”

Our measuring stick is not the person next to us. Our measuring stick is Christ. How close am I to being like Jesus? That’s all that matters. Every other kind of comparison will become a hindrance. It will cause strife, envying, divisions. In short, carnal living. 

If you’ve struggled with spiritual growth, perhaps you have (like I have!) been caught up in comparisons. Christ wants us to keep our eyes on Him, not to the right or to the left. 

“Comparison is the thief of joy.” -Theodore Roosevelt

Colossians 3:2 Set your affections on things above, not on things of the earth.