Using the Right Scale
Recently, I had to make a decision to remove Facebook from my phone. I am not saying that everyone should do this or that having Facebook so close to oneself is sinful, but for me, I had to make that decision because I found myself constantly being sucked into the virtual world and losing time in the real world. I have to admit that I mainly did this so that I would be more productive and focused at work and in life in general, but I have found that it has provided another benefit I did not see coming or realize I needed.
When I spent a lot of time on Facebook, I am not saying this is for everyone, but it is for me, I found myself comparing myself to the images of people’s lives and posts. Even though I was not doing this on purpose or even consciously, I now realize this is what I was doing. I would see a picture of a family on vacation and begin to think about how I wished I had a job that allowed me to take vacations like this. I would see someone’s new boat and think that I wish I had a boat and could go fishing anytime I wanted. I guess I also wished I knew something about fishing. In addition to comparing my life to their pictures, I also compared my car, family, house, restaurant choices, opportunities to attend concerts, sporting events, and many other things.
One last area that I found myself comparing myself to was the inspirational quotes or understandings of scripture expressed in posts. I would read posts and immediately think that I either agreed with them or disagreed. I would evaluate their proper or improper interpretation or application of a scripture. For me, this either generated pride leading to criticism or envy leading to emulation. As I pondered this, I was reminded of a scripture:
“For we are not bold to class or compare ourselves with some of those who commend themselves; but when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are without understanding.” 2 Corinthians 10:12
In this scripture, Paul was responding to attacks made by those who had labelled themselves the “Super Apostles”. They were not the original eleven apostles, but a group of false teachers who had moved into the church in Corinth and were leading the people astray by claiming that it did not matter what one does with his or her body because the spirit is being saved and the body will pass away anyway. They taught a spiritual resurrection, but not a bodily resurrection.
These “Super Apostles” were encouraging the people to look at their clothing and seeming spiritual authority and to value them over Paul who was poorly clothed, not a good speaker, and not much to look at. They further defended their ministry by comparing themselves by themselves and encouraging the people to compare themselves to the false teachers. The false teachers knew that if they could become the standard, then the people would always need them because the people would never measure up to their pretense.
The problem with comparing ourselves to others is that we are using the wrong scale. I talked to a man just the other day and he told me about a situation that developed. He had been on a diet and had lost down to 225 pounds from well over 300. When he went to the doctor, he was very proud of his progress and bragged to the doctor about it. The doctor had him weigh on the office scale and it said he weighed 285. He discovered his scale at home was broken.
If we use the wrong scale, we can either feel pretty good about ourselves or pretty bad. We can find someone more evil than we are and feel good or we can find someone in better physical shape, with more money, that goes on better vacations, has a more ordered world, etc. and feel bad about ourselves. As we use those scales, we find we need to give them more time, attention, focus, and power over our lives.
We must use Jesus Christ as our scale. We will never measure up, but it will drive us to Him again and again to seek His help and to keep our eyes on Him as He is the standard for our lives. The next time you are tempted to compare yourself to someone else you see, use it as an opportunity to draw closer to Jesus and pray and ask Him to be the scale in your life and to enable you to measure up due to His work in you.