This week wrapped up “The Comparison Trap” series at North Point. Be sure to check out my other two blog posts from this series here and here.
According to Andy, Steven Furtick, pastor of Elevation Church, once said: “When I compare myself to someone I’m comparing myself to their highlight reel.” When we compare ourselves to someone, we’re comparing our worst against their best, and we’ll never win that comparison.
Andy used the story of the talents (money) from Matthew 25:14-30. In this parable, Jesus tells the story of three servants of a very wealthy man. He gave the first servant five talents; he returned with five additional talents. The second got two talents; he returned with two more. The last only got one talent and that’s all he brought back since he ended up burying it while his master was gone.
The rich guy wasn’t happy with him. Not because he didn’t come back with more money, but because he didn’t even try. The servant even admitted to knowing the master was willing to take risks with him money, yet he wasn’t willing to do the same even though he could have simply put in the bank and collected interest.
The first two servants were celebrated and rewarded. The third servant was kicked out of the house and sent away in shame. It’s not that he didn’t any wrong, he simply didn’t do anything at all with what he had been given.
It isn’t how much you have or what you have, it’s what you do with what you have. Think about it, a lot of the names that we know who are captains of industry started out with very little. Bill Gates and Steve Jobs both started out with nothing and dropped out of school and ended up founding two massive companies. A lot of current millionaires are first generation rich (as Dave Ramsey calls it) because they figured out how to capitalize on things they were good at and were wise with their money, but willing to take risks.
We’ve all got a set of similar skills to everyone else. But each of us has that one thing that is unique to us in some way, even if we’re not the best at it. It’s the thing that drives us, that motivates us. Other people are always going to have more of something or better at something than us in some area, but we will always have that one thing that God has entrusted us with.
So what if your friend makes more money than you or drives a nicer car, or whatever it is that you’re a little jealous of. Andy made a good point about this stuff: “Celebrate what God has given others and leverage what God has given you.” It doesn’t matter what someone else because you’ve been given something unique and it needs to be leveraged.
What are you going to do with what God has entrusted to you?
