What Does God Say About Comparing Yourself to Others?

“For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.”

2 Corinthians 10:12

Paul was being measured against slicker, louder preachers, so he names the game and declines to play it. Measuring themselves by themselves, comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise. He does not say comparison is cruel or exhausting, though it is both. He says the ruler itself is broken. Every reading you take from it will be false.

“But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. For every man shall bear his own burden.”

Galatians 6:4-5

Prove your own work, Paul says, and you will find rejoicing in yourself alone, and not in another. There is a joy that only exists outside comparison, the quiet satisfaction of your own faithfulness to your own assignment. One sideways glance and it evaporates. Every man shall bear his own burden: yours was measured for you, and the grace to carry it was too.

“Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me.”

John 21:21-22

Jesus has just told Peter how Peter will die. Peter turns, sees John, and asks the most human question in the Gospels: Lord, and what shall this man do? Jesus does not soften it: what is that to thee? Someone else's path is not your business, even when it looks easier than yours. The cure is the command that follows: follow thou me.

“But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny? Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good?”

Matthew 20:13-15

In this parable, the workers got exactly what they agreed to, a full day's wage for a full day's work. They were content until they looked sideways. Nothing was taken from them; comparison manufactured a grievance out of a fair deal. Then the landowner asks the question God is still asking: is thine eye evil, because I am good? Someone else's grace takes nothing from your portion.

“For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.”

1 Corinthians 12:14-18

The foot compares itself to the hand and tries to resign from the body. Paul writes it almost as comedy, because from the outside comparison always is. If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? Then the line that settles it: God set every member in the body as it hath pleased him. Your placement was not an oversight; it pleased Him.

“For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.”

Psalm 139:13-14

Fearfully and wonderfully made is not a compliment David pays himself. It is a verdict on God's workmanship. You were formed in the dark, on purpose, before anyone could compare you to anything. A handmade thing is not graded against other handmade things. It is valued by whether the maker meant it, and He meant you.