The Same Different Story

When I drive through a city and come to a stop light, I often marvel at the apartment buildings. So many lives, in these tall boxes of buildings, all happening at the same time. Each person with their own stories, full of joys, sorrows, dreams, and struggles, brushing past each other on the stairs or in the elevator. All while people walk past the building, seemingly oblivious to the matrix of life on top of life that is happening just a few bricks away.

I love people’s stories. They Inspire me. Good or bad there is usually wisdom to glean from the lives lived by the people around us. Stories are meant to bring us together, to pass on knowledge, to inspire, and to create bonds of understanding between each other.

But just like with many of God’s gifts to us, the enemy has found ways to whisper lies and twist our hearts to turn this wonderful opportunity into comparison and envy.

Comparison and envy can sink in when we least expect it.

We see it in the church In many ways.

People comparing church numbers, followers on social media, how zealous you are, how much more is your theology stronger than others?

This comparison game sows seeds of division, and rejects the unity that Christ died and rose again for.

Recently I ran into the trap and pain of comparison.

Repentance for me has looked like rejecting my comfortable lifestyle and fighting harder and harder to embrace discomfort, and gain the strength of a warrior. This has also meant that to learn how to become a warrior for God, I’ve had to surround myself with professional warriors. Men and women who are well seasoned, refined through grit, full of tenacity, and bold in their unyielding spirits.

And here I am, still weak and fat with a chasm between where I am, and where I need to be.

Don’t get me wrong, Ive been training hard, dropping weight and gaining muscle, but the road ahead is still long and difficult.

I began to envy their up brining that produced these strong, brave, wild men. I begin to get frustrated with my own stupidity and foolishness and the wasted opportunities that had piled up over the years.

An opportunity to grow, connect, and build was becoming tainted by comparison and envy.

But God met me in that moment and reminded me of all that I had been through, the things I had suffered and survived, and the way He had been restoring me since the day I accepted His Love.

God showed me that these men of God who have been wild and free for most of their lives, are honoring God with their wildness.

And then He showed me that in my personal restoration I am honoring and glorifying God in my repentance.

This is the same different story

Each believer is unique in how we come to God, and yet we are bound and connected in the same pursuit of Him.

Different expressions of the same Glory that is given to God, woven through all of our stories.

When He started to remind me of how we were all held with the same value as God’s Children, giving honor and glory to Him in different ways, my heart was able to release itself from the tangle of envy and comparison.

As you follow God’s call on your life, chances are you will be tempted to compare and envy those who seem further along than you.

Fight this temptation. Don’t forfeit the opportunity to build strong loving relationships with those around you.

Embrace the Same Different Stories being woven by our God. Grow and let the light and life of God shine bright with one another.

You got this!

Be Blessed

Phil Morris