We hear the term comparison shopping, and in the natural, it is a good thing to compare; especially when you are trying to make a wise purchase. However, comparisons between people are not wise.

Of course, we wouldn’t dare to put ourselves in the same class or compare ourselves with those who rate themselves so highly. They compare themselves to one another and make up their own standards to measure themselves by, and then they judge themselves by their own standards. What self-delusion! II Corinthians 10:12 (The Passion Translation, TPT)

Paul warned the church at Corinth about comparing themsevles with each other. When we look at ourselves alongside others, one of two things will happen.

1. We will appear to come up short. When we try to be like others that we admire, we can feel inferior and unworthy. This is not the way God sees us. He does not compare us with each other because He has given each of us different gifts and personailities to accomplish the different assignments He has given. And no person or assignment is inferior in God’s eyes.

2. We will appear better than we really are. When we see ourselves as better than others, we are truly deceived because, as we just established, God has made each of us unique and valuable in order to do what He has called each of us to do. No person or assignment is superior in God’s eyes.

We cannot use other people as our measuring stick. We must measure ourselves in comparison to Jesus. Jesus is the only perfect person who ever lived, and to try to compare ourselves to another person as our measuring stick is an inaccurate measure. Of course, we cannot measure up to Jesus because we not perfect and cannot hope to ever be perfect on our own. When we measure ourselves next to Jesus, we are reminded that we need Him and His completed work in order to measure up to God’s standards of righteousness. When we compare ourselves to Jesus, we can be thankful all over again for what Jesus has done to make us righteous. And we can remember that God has valued us so much that He would send Jesus to die for us. It keeps things in the proper perspective.

Our goal and aim is to be the best possible version of ourselves that we can be. And we do that through the empowerment and guidance of the Holy Spirit. The grace of God will help us to be all we can be in Jesus Christ.

So, by all means, employ the fine art of comparison shopping when you are buying a box of cereal or a new car. But, don’t use it when determining your own worth and value or the value of other people. If you do, you will be operating in great deception. And that is a dangerous place to be.