Staying Focused in a Comparison-Prone World

Ordinary. Unaccomplished. Boring.  That’s how I was tempted to describe my life after reading through the conference’s speaker biographies.  Their intent was to instill credibility in the speakers, but when read by a comparison-prone heart, instead of a truth-filled mind, those paragraphs loaded with degrees, expertise, experiences, professional achievements, and community service left me feeling oh so average, at best.

It doesn’t take much to trigger a fall into the pit of comparison. Whether it’s polished profiles of career achievements or seemingly perfect posts on social media, it’s so easy to look at the lives of others and feel like ours just doesn’t measure up. However, forming conclusions about our own life based on presumptions about the lives of others is dangerous and hinders us from fully “leading the life that the Lord has assigned to us, and to which God has called us.” (1 Corinthians 7:17)

In Matthew 25:14-30, Jesus tells a Parable of a man who entrusted three servants with varying amounts of talents before leaving on a journey.  In those days, a talent was a sum of money and the master gave each servant a different amount to steward while he was away. One received five.  Another received two.  The other one.

The servant who received two talents had several options when given his portion.

He could have compared his share to the servant who received five talents and concluded that he didn’t measure up.  Why did he get five when I was only given two? He’s better than me…smarter than me…more successful than me.

He could have compared his share to the servant who received one talent and pridefully concluded that his excess somehow made him better than the single-talented servant.

Or, he could appreciate what had been assigned to him and make the best of what his master had deemed good to give him, no matter how large or insignificant it seemed by comparison.

The servant chose wisely. Rather than throw a pity party in response to receiving less or develop an ego in response to receiving more, he focused on utilizing the two talents he had to bring honor to his master when he returned.

By the time the master returned, he had multiplied his share, as had the servant who received five talents, and the master commended them each saying, “Well done, good and faithful servant.  You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much.  Enter into the joy of your master.” (Matthew 25: 21, 23)

It’s interesting that the servant who was faithful with two talents received the same response from the master as the one who was faithful with five.  All that mattered at the day of reckoning was whether they were faithful with what they’d been uniquely given, not what one received compared to the other.

Just as the master distributed different portions to each servant, God’s distributions vary with us. When our day of reckoning comes, it won’t matter what we had compared to the next person.  What will matter is what we’ve done to honor him with the life and talents he’s granted uniquely to us, regardless of how ordinary or average they may seem.

May the Lord empower us by his Spirit to choose wisely, like the servant, so that one day we too may hear those beautiful words, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your master.”