The Game We Always Lose
The Game We Always Lose
By Hannah Elaine
I have an enemy. He often comes when I’m at my weakest. He comes when I’m walking down the street of my small city, and I spot a girl who has prettier features than I do. He comes when I’m scrolling through my Instagram feed, and I see someone who has the success I desire.
He comes when I remember pain from my past, and I wonder how my life would’ve be different. He seems to know me better than myself at times, eating away at any insecurity he catches and turning it into fuel for more.
His name is Comparison, and though I play into his games, he will not win.
We often hear that comparison is the thief of joy. Surely we can testify to the truth of this statement. How often are we discouraged when we see beauty that we do not hold, instead of being joyous of the gift the Lord has given that person? Our immediate mindset of comparison, is competition.
We turn to their flaws, in order to make our insecurities diminish. We completely surrender the spirit of confidence and joy the Holy Spirit gives us as we give into one of the devil’s strongest tools.
I’ve battled with comparison for as long as I can remember. Growing up with a competitive mindset that hated the thought of failure, really pushed me to be the best. Being of passionate nature, whatever I involve myself in is what I get consumed with. For instance, I grew up playing competitive soccer, and if I saw someone that was better than me, I would constantly compare.
I detested when people were prettier than me because I compared my own beauty to theirs. In turn, this made me detest myself when I didn’t measure up and be filled with pride when I did. It was a lose-lose situation that I wasn’t even aware of.
It was while I was scrolling through my phone, viewing a life that I desired, that the Lord convicted me.
He whispered to my heart to put it all away- the phone, the idols, the constant comparison mindset I was carrying.
I craved a confidence in Him that would set me free, but He knew that I could not have it if I was constantly looking at others than at who He has created me to be. For a stubborn-heart like myself, it took a lot of breaking. I lost the ability to play competitive soccer due to a knee injury that will stay with me for the rest of my life. I lost relationships that I idolized. I lost myself in the midst of comparison. I have never been as thankful as I am now for those things, for I can confidently say that I am free from the bondage of comparison.
Though it is a subject that fails to be discussed as common as it should, the Bible warns us about playing into the comparison game.
“Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else” (Galatians 6:4).
Did you know that comparison is only the beginning to a lot of evil, fleshly attributes that God detests? Though it roots from insecurity, it still continues to feed it. Jealousy and selfish ambition lead to disorder and vile practice (James 3:16), and certainly stem from comparison.
When we compare, we are unable to see the unique beauty the Lord has created in ourselves.
How saddened our Creator must be to watch how, once again, we fail to see the beauty in what He has made.
Not only does comparison steal the lens of how we see ourselves, but it robs us of the lens of how others view us. We’ve all heard it, but the Bible beckons to us to not conform to the world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our mind (Romans 12:2). When we conform to the ways of the world, the world views us as the same- we are no longer set apart.
By partaking in the comparison game, we are releasing the lens the Lord gives us of being perfectly and wonderfully made, and envision ourselves and others by our flaws. Instead of seeing beauty in others, we choose to see the ugly. We are no longer set apart by seeing as God does but are the same by seeing things as the world does!
I beckon you, beloved child, to strip away the lens of the world and stop playing the game of comparison. It’s easier to say than it is to act; things of the spirit instead of the flesh usually are.
I beckon you, because I know it is a game you will lose. You are called to engage in a different sort of game-one that holds promises of victory and joy.
Let the Lord’s truth wash over the wounds comparison gives. You were made for more than faulty visions of beauty defined by the world. You were made to be delighted in and over.
Let the knowledge of truth of how valued you are over pour onto others the Lord delights upon.
Passionate and wild at heart, Hannah takes delight in anything that involves the word “traveling" and “adventure." You’ll often times find her always laughing-even in the awkward times or taking a variety of road-trips with the windows always down. You can find her on her Instagram where she tries to perfect an Insta-theme at @hann.elaine or on her website .
“Please leave a comment. Let Hannah know what you loved about her piece, how you relate, or any wisdom/Scripture that applies to the subject of comparison. Thank you.”