Comparison Trap

Do you fall into the comparison trap? I do at times. You know if only I had a phone like Jane’s it does so much more than last year’s phone. OR I want to be like her she has it all together.

Let not your heart envy sinners,
    but continue in the fear of the Lord all the day.

Proverbs 23:17

Like most of the things that steal our peace, the comparison trap catches us when we have our eyes off of God and on ourselves. We become focused on what we don’t have that someone else has. We start to fall deeper into the trap as we covet what they have. We hit bottom when we blame God for life not being fair, after all, why shouldn’t we have the newest and best phone out there.

The comparison trap is not like a bear trap that snaps shut once you step into it. Yes, it can bring pain due to the lack of contentment. When you take a good look at what the comparison trap is really like you realize it is like quicksand pulling you under. You start off with the lack of contentment, sinking into despair, getting stuck in the muck of resentment, the mire of anger and covered in bitterness.

We don’t have to be stuck in the comparison trap. God has thrown us a lifeline and has provided spiritual soap to wash off the gunk from the trap.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Romans 12:2

The comparison trap is all about conforming to what is in this world and wanting it. It is the mindset of the old self, the flesh, and Satan’s oldest trick in the book. Yes, when you look at the fall of man in the Garden (Genesis 3) Satan caught Eve by getting her to compare herself to God. He got her to thinking that being wise like God was something to be desired. That God was holding out on them by not allowing them to be like Him. Today we are still trying to get out of the mess Eve created when she fell for that trap. As a matter of fact, we can’t get out of that mess except for Jesus to lift us out.

It is Jesus, who came giving us the lifeline to get out of that muck that Eve got all of us stuck in. It is His blood that washes us white as snow and His words that renew our minds.

So when the comparison trap is set before you get into your Bible to wash your mind and call on Jesus to help you out.