Linking up with Amanda to ‘Think Out Loud’ on today’s podcast about the comparison trap.  

Comparison is no bueno, but still it creeps into our social media, our body image, and our food choices.  It’s a hard hard battle to be reminded that comparison always steals joy, always steals the joy of embracing your God given body, your God given gifts, and living in freedom.    I have definitely wrestled with the comparison bug especially when I got onto Instagram about 3 years ago, but I am so very grateful to say that the more the Lord has shown me just how I am fearfully and wonderfully made in His image, and I am not going to be exactly like any other person.  

I think I started to realize just how STRONG of a battle comparison is, and I totally believe that it’s a spiritual battle, as a Christian, that the devil wants to steal our joy of having a firm identity in Jesus Christ and trick us into believing that if we were just ‘better’ than someone else, we would be fulfilled and happy.   

That is a lie, and I am DONE believing it.  

However, it’s going to be a battle that I think I’ll fight my whole life here on this earth.   That’s why I’m so very grateful that my sweet friend Jess came on the podcast to talk about the comparison battle with me when it comes to especially: 

Your Walk with the Lord

Eating Habits and Foods you Eat 

Body Image 

Social Media  

Jess was so straightforward here.  She shared how futile it is to compare yourself, and she also reminded me of a few important things:

The Top Things Jess Shared (But Not Limited to These were)  

— Social Media is a HIGHLIGHT reel.  You aren’t going to see everything people eat or every part of life that they are going through.  

— What matters are the People, not the likes or amounts of people you reached. What matters are the individual souls and lives of people that you get to touch.  

— Doing it for God’s glory and not because you want yourself to be better than someone else is so freeing.  

— When I’m Comparing Myself to Someone Else I’m Essentially Questioning the Gifts God gave me, as if God made a mistake, and He definitely didn’t.  

— Why an Attitude of Gratitude can Totally Replace the Comparison Trap 

— The Freedom of Being Able to Use the Gifts You’ve Been Given  

— Using Your Gifts to the Best of Your Ability Instead of Wanting Others’ Gifts

— What Jess says to herself when she sees comparison start to creep in 

— What Jess has learned about starting to compare your spiritual walk with the Lord with someone else’s.   

— How Jess Deals with the ‘Food Comparison’ that can come along with Instagram 

— How to Replace Comparison’s Lies with Truth 

 

In essence, Jess reminded me that we have to find our identity not in what people think of us, because that opinion is going to change.  Even our own opinion of ourselves will change, but in an identity secure in Jesus, secure in His love, in His blood, and righteousness covering us, we can be 100% free to be the person God made us to be.   

There just is not one person who is exactly alike in this world.  There are ALL sorts of different body shapes and sizes, people who love math, people who hate math, people who love cooking, people who would rather clean than cook, and we need each person’s gifts.  Each person has something that God has given them, and instead of comparing, I’ve found that the best thing is to:  Appreciate.  

The more I learn to appreciate others instead of compare myself or wish that I was like them or that I could offer exactly what they offer, the more freedom I have found in just walking through life with more of a spring in my step.  

This may sound funny, but I think my dog and my sister’s dogs have reminded me the joy of just being you.   No, I don’t believe that humans are animals, but I love how they just skip through life, smelling the air, licking your face, and being the animal that they are.  

How much more precious is each human, who was created in God’s image, created precious and individual?   

No matter your body size.  

No matter your amount of followers on Instagram.  

NO matter your blog views.  

No matter your eating style.  

You are valuable, because God made you.  Don’t waste time wishing you were someone else, because God made you, and God made you in His image for His glory! 

Let’s talk about that comparison trap: 

Do you struggle with the comparison trap?  

How have you learned to appreciate the individual gifts you’ve been given?  

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