Comparison

So everyone has heard this saying. But it is one that tends to go in one ear and out the other. 

Lately God has really been putting it on my heart.  

Social media has taken this comparison thing to a whole new level.  People put their life on facebook, twitter, intagram... and even their blogs.  I obviously do this too. This is okay, but we have to keep things in perspective.  Most of the time we are not putting our whole life on display.  We don't show the despairs and struggles.  We share celebrations and successes.  So others get a beautiful highlight reel, while living they are living their own challenging behind the scenes.   Even more pressing, what does all of this mean we are focusing on. Colossians 3:2-4 says

Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.  For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

If I am comparing my life to someone else's... then I am certainly not focused on things above.

But here is the part that really has hit me lately- how we avoid the comparison... Aka focusing on earthly things.

We MUST be in the Word.

We MUST be in constant conversation with God.
We MUST serve the world around us.

We MUST participate in real community with real people (read- not social media).

When we live our life in prayer, in the Word, in service, and in community (focusing on things above :)) we can't live in constant comparison.

So my challenge for myself is to do this (only through Christ of course), to spend more time being real and to be focused so totally on above that there is no room for comparison!