“Don’t compare yourself to others; compare yourself to Christ.”
The past Sunday, during my sermon, when talking about how, as Christians we “have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him,” I made the point that we should not compare ourselves to anyone else “in this room.” There is no one else’s image that we should strive to be like. I have several people that I look up to. The list is long and contains various people from various backgrounds and educational levels. Most of the people on my list I would consider spiritual people. They have set examples for me of what it means to be a Christian. Nevertheless, none of these people are perfect, and not one of them sacrifices themselves on the cross for the atonement of my sins.
Who we really want to be like is Christ, not others around us. “I want to be like You.” Not you who are reading this but You and Jesus Christ. If we compare ourselves to others, we lose the potential to experience great joy because others will just let us down. The Bible does not ask us to compare ourselves to others or to beat ourselves up for not being as (insert pious characteristic here) as someone else.
What the Scriptures teach us is to compare ourselves to God. Not in an arrogant way, but in a way that inspires us to be more and more like Jesus. We are to follow the example of Christ in everything we do and to be “perfect” as our heavenly father is perfect. We need to be thinking and asking what would Jesus do. (I’m sure you have heard that a time or two, right?)
When we compare ourselves to Jesus, we can fix our eyes on Him instead of others. We are inspired and encouraged to become who God created us to be. (His image) When striving to be like Him, we allow Him to mold us, shape us, and grow us into His likeness. Paul says, “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma” (Ephesians 5:1-2).
In our minds, we need to constantly be thinking (and singing):
I wanna be like you (God)
I wanna walk like you
Talk like you
You see it’s true
Someone like me (an imperfect man)
Can learn to be
Like someone like you (God)
God loves you and so do I,
Alexander Mills