Finding Contentment: Escaping the Comparison Trap

There is always somebody with more er, right? You know this, right? There is always someone who is richer, who is skinnier, who is smarter, who is hipper, who is more talenteder, or their girlfriend is prettier, or their boyfriend is cuter, or their job is betterer, I mean everywhere you look, whatever you want to do, whatever you want to be good at, whatever you think you're good at and whatever you think you've accomplished, there's always somebody with more er. [00:04:58]

Comparison is what puts the dis in discontentment. And discontentment fueled by comparison, as we're gonna see in a few minutes and as all of us already have a story, this isn't new information, discontentment fueled by comparison is actually very dangerous. Okay, some of you have consumer debt because you stared at somebody else's lifestyle for too long, didn't you? [00:06:29]

There's just no win in comparison. In fact, comparison is what puts the dis in discontentment. And discontentment fueled by comparison, as we're gonna see in a few minutes and as all of us already have a story, this isn't new information, discontentment fueled by comparison is actually very dangerous. [00:06:29]

The whisper that basically just says, you need what they have to be respectable, acceptable, and lovable. I mean, that's kind of the moral of the culture story, right? That you need, it's a whisper, it sounds like my voice but it's a whisper, it's in my head. You need what they have to be respectable, acceptable, and lovable. [00:11:38]

The wisest man who ever lived, Solomon, who had it all, done it all, been there, done that, the wisest man who ever lived, he just summarized it this way, he said this, he wrote this, envy rots the bones. Wow, that's extreme. Envy rots bones. So the bottom line for our time together is simply this, knock it off. [00:12:41]

And I saw that all toil, all work, and all achievement, all you goal setters, you know, all toil and all achievement spring from one person's envy of another. It's like what, he goes, yep, I've seen it, I know what's happening out there. This isn't new, this is 3,000 years old at least and older. [00:16:43]

Better one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind. Isn't that great? You're like, I don't even know what it means. I know, I'm gonna explain it in a minute, but it is great, so just take, okay, but look at the imagery of this. He says it's better to have one handful with tranquility. [00:23:26]

Tranquility means satisfaction, tranquility means you drive home at night and you go into your apartment or you go into your house and (exhales) you're fine. Tranquility means you visit your friend or your older brother or even your younger brother or your older sister or younger sister and they live in this big ole house, and they got a gate, woo, you got a gate. [00:24:17]

For whom am I toiling? He finally asked the question, I mean he's been going on and on and on year after year, and it's like he's going, wait a minute, who am I doing this for? Who am I doing this with and who am I doing this for? What am I trying to prove and who am I trying to prove it to? [00:27:31]

You will never be who you were born to be as long as you are looking over your shoulder at anybody else. Because the energy you expend and the energy I expend looking left and right and over my shoulder, that is energy God gave us to do what God has called us and created us to do. [00:32:48]

He said, then it dawned on me, I have to run my race. I can't run my daddy's race or any other preacher's race. And he's been running his race ever since. And here's why I tell you that story, look up here, you have to learn to run your race and quit chasing the wind. [00:36:17]

Count your blessings, not your neighbor's. You know what, when you begin counting your blessings and you drop it into the context of how some people live in this world, you'll wake up every single day grateful, you'll go to bed every single night grateful, every single night, every single morning. You will be grateful when you start counting your blessings rather than everybody else's. [00:38:32]