I’ve heard it said before that comparison is the thief of joy.

I’m gonna steal a quote from “Pretty Woman” and say I think that comparison is also a slippery little sucker. (Insert image of an escargot flying across the dinner table.) It can start out rather harmless. We tell ourselves we are just pointing out the obvious. Stating facts is all. But if we’re not careful those ‘obvious facts’ quickly become bits of information that we allow to play over and over again in our mind. The more we focus on it, the more obsessed we become with it. And if we’re not careful, we can find our comparisons flying out of our hands uncontrollably, just like the slippery snails. We find ourselves trying to weigh things out, wanting everything to be fair.  Problem is, life isn’t fair. And the more we think about it the less content we become with who or what we have in our own lives.

Comparison left unchecked brews discontentment. Discontentment is a state of mind that robs us of our time, energy & joy. So if we’re not careful to take our thoughts captive & make them obedient to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5) then we find our eyes wandering and our heart growing discontent.

Matthew 20 tells the story of a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. There was an agreed upon price of a denarius for the day of work. A few hours later the landowner goes out and sees others standing in the marketplace, not doing anything, and says to them to go work in his vineyard. He says, “I will pay you whatever is right.” This happens several more times as the landowner goes out again at about noon, 3:00, & 5:00 and hires additional workers.

At the end of the day, the owner of the vineyard calls his foreman and tells him to call in the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first. Verse 9 says, “The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’

I can’t tell you how many times I have read this passage and sympathized with the workers. I feel for them. I can put myself in their shoes. Here they have been doing manual labor for the entire day under the scorching rays of the hot sun. They are tired, dirty and thirsty. They look like they’ve been working hard all day. Their hair is disheveled and there’s sweat & dirt caked on their sunburnt faces.  I can imagine them setting down their tools only to look up and find Mr. One Hour of Work (5:00 man) standing there with barely a hair out of place and his clean, callous-free hands reaching out to accept his denarius. Talk about unfair!

But this morning as I was reading this story again the Holy Spirit helped me see things  a bit differently.  Expectations are slippery little suckers too! When we decide in our own mind the way things should go…our expectation of the outcome, instead of trusting God’s heart, we can find ourselves feeling a little ripped off.  But I love how God shows us in this story how He is constantly trying to teach us to trust Him.

The response of the owner of the vineyard mirrors God’s response to me when I want to throw down my tools, stomp my feet and scream “That’s not fair!!” Verse 13,  “But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money?  ‘Or are you envious because I am generous?’

It feels as if this one question strips everything else away. My answer to this question will determine whether I continue to live a life of comparison or whether I make the decision to live a life full of thanksgiving and gratefulness for what I have already been given.  A life that trusts the hand of God.

Are we envious because He’s generous? Are we envious of the gifting He’s placed inside of others? Are we envious that He has given our friends financial blessings? Or that our friends children are better at sports than ours? Are we spending our time looking around comparing everything and feeling ripped off?? Or are we going to make the intentional decision to stop comparing and start celebrating?!! We need to keep our focus on Him, quit looking at all the things we don’t have and start thanking God for what we do have. And when those around us are blessed by God’s generosity then we need to celebrate with them! 

Celebrating with others brings us into their  journey with them instead of standing on the sidelines being a spectator.  It may only take a few steps to move from spectator to participant but I promise you the vantage point will change everything. Not to mention that we want others to celebrate with us when it’s our turn.  It’s no fun celebrating all by yourself. 

I have a sign in my kitchen window that says, Eucharisteo (or thanksgiving) always, always precedes the miracle. It’s a reminder to me to always be thankful. The miracle of living a life free of comparison will come after we learn to live a life of gratefulness. I am so thankful for a God who patiently shows me how to cultivate a heart of gratefulness. I pray that today we learn to trust His heart as He continues to teach us and stretch our hearts.