Stay On Track

“Let everyone be sure to do his very best, for then he will have the personal satisfaction of work done well, and won’t need to compare himself with someone else” Gal. 6:4 [LB]

The first way to reduce the stress of competition  is to Stop Comparing. Comparing is a foolish thing to do because you are unique. God designed you uniquely. In fact, God designed your genes uniquely. No two human beings have the same genes. You have designer genes. Why is it a bad thing to compare? It is because it causes envy and bitterness. It makes you miserable, do not do it. “Let everyone be sure to do his very best, for then he will have the personal satisfaction of work done well, and won’t need to compare himself with someone else” Gal.6:4[LB, emphasis added].

In other words, the only person you should compete with is yourself. Do your very best and then relax, do not run another person’s race. Some people are running hundred meters and some people are running two hundred meters and others are running a marathon. When they sound the go signal, at the fifty meter mark the person running a marathon may seem slow. But he knows that he is running a different race.

When you compare, you always lose because every time you compare, you will see people you are better than. And that leads to pride. Any Christian that is prideful loses with God because God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. Some people will even turn it into a prayer. You hear them say, ‘Lord, thank you because my children got all ‘A’s’ not like the people whose children failed’. It will shock you to know that people actually pray like that. But that does not glorify God because it is pride. Remember God resists the proud and that is not the place to be.

Secondly, every time you compare, you see people that are better than you. There will always be someone richer, someone more beautiful, or someone better skilled and the list is endless. If you buy a car now, before you get to your house someone else has bought a newer car. Comparing leads to discouragement. When you compare, you always lose. So every time you start comparing, you inevitably start competing wrongly. Stop comparing in competing situations. Run your own race!

Prayer: Spirit of God, help me to stay focused on glorifying You with my very best. Help me run my own race, in Jesus Name.