Deliverance from Comparison

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We all have or still do use comparison to give ourselves, our families, our circumstances and our lives value...
 
John 21:19-22
He said to him, "Follow Me." 20Then Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following, who also had leaned on His breast at the supper, and said, "Lord, who is the one who betrays You?" 21 Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, "But Lord, what about this man?" 22 Jesus said to him, "If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me.”
 
Jesus says to Peter… Don’t worry about or “COMPARE” yourself to John… Focus on yourself and you follow me…

Your journey is your own…  Your life is your own… You are the main character in the story God is telling… each of you… 
 
God is the director and He meets with you every morning before filming and every evening afterwards to discuss how His vision for the film of His main characters story is unfolding…
 
Psalm 40:5 & 17
5 Many, O Lord my God, are Your wonderful works Which You have done; And Your thoughts toward us Cannot be recounted to You in order; If I would declare and speak of them, They are more than can be numbered.
 
You cannot recount the individual thoughts that God has about you for they cannot be numbered then Verse 17 says…
17 But I am poor and needy; Yet the Lord thinks upon me. You are my help and my deliverer
 
Regardless of who you are or your lot in life what you have or don’t have the Lord thinks upon you in great detail and His concern is for our “Deliverance”…  In every area of our lives where we are bound…
 
So how important are you to God?…  God will “TILT” the world for you…  God will move you and He will move all of creation on your behalf…
 
Psalm 19:1-7
The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork. 2 Day unto day utters speech, And night unto night reveals knowledge. 3 There is no speech nor language Where their voice is not heard. 4 Their line has gone out through all the earth, And their words to the end of the world. In them He has set a tabernacle for the sun, 5 Which is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, And rejoices like a strong man to run its race. 6 Its rising is from one end of heaven, And its circuit to the other end; And there is nothing hidden from its heat. 7 The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul;
 
Amazing what God has created in what we call the natural order of things around us…
 
How much He must love us to suspend that on our behalf…
 
Luke 8:24-25
24 And they came to Him and awoke Him, saying, "Master, Master, we are perishing!" Then He arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water. And they ceased, and there was a calm. 25 But He said to them, "Where is your faith?" And they were afraid, and marveled, saying to one another, "Who can this be? For He commands even the winds and water, and they obey Him!”
 
God suspends the natural order of things on behalf of His sons and daughters as He delivers us time and time again.
 
When we feel like we are fighting an uphill battle all the time could it be that as the Lord tilts the world on our behalf we are swimming upstream and fighting gravity and literally refusing to be delivered?…
 
As I thought about the prison of comparison I wanted to leave you with something to aspire to in this area…
 
1.  Aspire to be Complementary
 
Not in the sense of “saying nice things” but in the sense of “going well with something”…
 
When you go to a nice restaurant and order a meal the waiter will often ask you “May I suggest a complementary wine that will go along nice with your steak or fish or chicken”…
 
See there is wine tasting to judge which is best and their are cook-offs to see which steak is best but the real joy is in a full meal where each item is not in competition with the other but playing a complementary role that enhances the whole experience of dining…
 
See with food you have a main dish and side-dishes and in movies you have the leading actor and best supporting actor but in the kingdom of God you have billions of unique people who are each infinitely valuable to God…
 
Those who can stop competing for what they already have and begin to see what they have can become complementary to every other uniquely created and infinitely valuable person they encounter…

What you bring to the table or to the group or to the relationship or to the family or to the workplace is valuable… Not because it is better in comparison to what others bring but because you are the only one who can bring it because you are the only you…
 
So David is just anointed the next king of Israel and listen to this…
 
1 Samuel 16:13-23
13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel arose and went to Ramah. 14 But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and a distressing spirit from the Lord troubled him. 15 And Saul's servants said to him, "Surely, a distressing spirit from God is troubling you. 16 Let our master now command your servants, who are before you, to seek out a man who is a skillful player on the harp; and it shall be that he will play it with his hand when the distressing spirit from God is upon you, and you shall be well."17 So Saul said to his servants, "Provide me now a man who can play well, and bring him to me." 18 Then one of the servants answered and said, "Look, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is skillful in playing, a mighty man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a handsome person; and the Lord is with him." 19 Therefore Saul sent messengers to Jesse, and said, "Send me your son David, who is with the sheep." 20 And Jesse took a donkey loaded with bread, a skin of wine, and a young goat, and sent them by his son David to Saul. 21 So David came to Saul and stood before him. And he loved him greatly, and he became his armorbearer. 22 Then Saul sent to Jesse, saying, "Please let David stand before me, for he has found favor in my sight." 23 And so it was, whenever the spirit from God was upon Saul, that David would take a harp and play it with his hand. Then Saul would become refreshed and well, and the distressing spirit would depart from him.
 
Can you be any further from “comparison” or any more “complementary than this?…