There’s always going to be someone who is smarter than you. Richer. More successful by whatever metric you choose to employ.
Does that bother you?
As a friend of Jesus, you are invited into an entirely different way of measuring your life.
Rather than comparing yourself to the greatest, look to the smallest. Instead of trying to fit in with the wealthy, become a friend of the poor. While others are seeking more, more, more – listen! There is a quiet invitation to go deeper, deeper, deeper.
Don’t misunderstand: I’m not talking about mediocrity. You don’t get closer to God through a drab and joyless existence. On the contrary, there is nothing more ambitious than the way of Jesus.
When you lead a life framed by Jesus’ upside-down example, you find true fulfillment for the first time. Rather than being enslaved by the drive to be the richest, the smartest, the most respected, you are freed to live as exactly the totally human being that God created you to be. After a lifetime of comparing yourself to others, what a relief that is!
Who are you comparing yourself to? How’s that working for you?