| I continually wonder, "How am I doing;
am I good enough?" How else can I answer the question but to look
around and see how others are doing? Others are my reference points
and I compare. Compared to others, how do I rate on looks,
intelligence, personality, income, accomplishment? School provides
excellent training in comparing. My test results and grades were on
the "curve." My success or failure depended on how well others did. In
school the focus was not progress, but comparison.
Yet Paul says I am not wise. Geneticists tell me no one has ever
had a duplicate of my genes. Sociologists tell me no one has a
duplicate of my experience. Paul tells me we all have "gifts
differing." (Romans 12:6) How can I compare if I am unique, if I
am matchless? How can I compare the incomparable?
I use a vertical scale where others are either above or below me.
Those above remind me of my own inferiority and I react with envy or
fear. It is as with the children of Israel seeing the sons of Anak,
"We were in our own sight as grasshoppers." (Numbers 13:33)
On the other hand, those I deem below me generate a spark of slippery
superiority and more than a pinch of pride. And I am alone, for
vertical comparing is a lonely activity. |
The opposite
of moving above others is moving toward them. The
opposite of using others as a measure is using God’s measure. I am to
use only the "measure of the rule which God hath distributed to us,
a measure to reach even unto you." (2 Corinthians 10:13)
God’s measure reaches to me wherever I am, whatever my circumstance.
Where does it lead? Paul described the destination: "The measure of
the stature of the fulness of Christ." (Ephesians 4:13) The
measure leads to Jesus.
I get bogged down with rules, things I am expected to obey. But
there is a different kind of rule. A rule is used to mark a straight
line, as with a ruler. God has given me a rule to measure my life’s
progress. Jesus is my Mentor, my Standard, my Exemplar. Rather than
comparing myself with others, I am to use His rule to measure my
progress and proximity to Him. Though my progress is measured in
micrometers, I am to become like Him.
|