February 10, 2010
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Dangers of Comparing...
Last night in one of the rooms we celebrated a boy's birthday and had a cake. The dorm mom went ahead and cut the cake, but she left it to the kids to get their slices. I watched with disappointment as the young kids tried to scoop as much of the cake they could into their bowls so that they could get the biggest share. But all the cake was gone before some of the others had gotten theirs. Thankfully the boys were convicted a bit and shared their big portions so all could eat.
That sight is common among kids, especially brothers and sisters. Selfishness breeds a desire to get our own share or as much as we can. Then we compare what we got with others. And what usually results of this comparison... either pride or insecurity/disappointment. Pride that we came out on top, or insecurity/disappointment that we didn't do as well.
I feel this is an area that Satan tries to attack many Christians, especially when God begins to do great works. Suddenly we can feel pride in the position God is putting us in, or we can feel insecurity/disappointment as we see others doing great things for God. I don't want to be like Jesus' disciples who consistently argued who was the greatest among them. I desire to have the heart of Jonathan who blessed David and rejoiced over every victory of David.
We're all in this together!
Philippians 2:2 - Then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.
Comments (1)
Jonathan did have a beautiful heart. What a brother! What a friend. It is very true that Satan efforts toward polarizing us toward one evil or the evil at the opposing pole. Thanks be to God for providing a transcendent plane where we are freed from a fallacy-filled continuum of choices ruled by self-centered principles.