Conquering Comparison

Conquering Comparison Day One

A 5- Day Study for Women Trapped by the Lie of Comparison 

Have you ever felt like you just can’t measure up? The perfect Instagram pictures, the immaculate designer home, the elaborate vacations, the thriving career. Why does it seem so impossible to just keep up let alone thrive? Join me on this 5-day journey to break free from the trap of comparison, leave the social media highlight reels behind, and live the abundant life God has waiting for you. 

Feeling like you can’t do it all? You think you can never do everything that she is doing. You can never have everything she has. You ask repeatedly, “Why can’t I figure out the same key to success and live the same fulfilled life?”. Sis, I am here to tell you that you can live a fulfilled meaningful life and thrive exactly where God has called you to be. 

As women, we are constantly trying to fulfill various roles we have in our lives. We are wives, mothers, grandmothers, daughters, aunts, friends, cousins, employers, and employees, and the list seems unending. The to-do list never goes away and it’s hard to keep up let alone thrive in success. We often allow comparison to make us feel trapped especially in our mundane moments. 

The problem is we are comparing ourselves to other women based on what we see them doing well. Yet we are judging ourselves on what we feel like we are failing at. We are not leaning into whose we are and who He has created us to be. 

We see their Instagram pictures of their seemingly perfect homes, the reels of their well-behaved designer-dressed children, and enjoying the fruits of their labor on lavish vacations we could never afford. All we can think about is how we are failing at just keeping up with our laundry pile, how our home is never perfectly cleaned let alone decorated, how we work hard both inside and outside of our home, yet we are still struggling to pay the monthly bills. We start to let doubt creep into our thoughts. We start to feel like we are not good enough. We start to lose the desire to try because we feel we can never be enough. We start to believe lies and let comparison steal our joy. 

The Bible tells us in Jeremiah 17:5, 7-8, “5 This is what the Lord says: Cursed is the person who trusts in mankind. He makes human flesh his strength, and his heart turns from the Lord.” (CSB) “7 The person who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence indeed is the Lord, is blessed. 8 He will be like a tree planted by water: it sends its roots out toward a stream, it doesn’t fear when heat comes, and its foliage remains green. It will not worry in a year of drought or cease producing fruit.” (CSB)

We should not be focusing on others’ success and strength. We should be focusing on who God has called us to be. We should be spending time in His word and prayer asking Him to guide us as we find our calling and fulfill the purpose, He has created us for. Our confidence in who we are and what we can do should be fully rooted in the one who created us. His word even says in Jeremiah 17: 7 if our confidence is in the Lord and not in man, we will be fruitful and blessed! 

John 15: 4-11 also talks about being fruitful (or what we see as successful), it says, “4 Remain in me, and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit because you can do nothing without me. 6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown aside like a branch, and he withers. They gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you. 8 My Father is glorified by this: that you produce much fruit and prove to be my disciples. 9 “As the Father has loved me, I have also loved you. Remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 “I have told you these things so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.” (CSB)

We need to remain in Him. We can do this by spending more time in God’s word. By reading his word we are reminded of his truth about who we are and what we can do through his strength. Our confidence should be deeply rooted in Christ alone. 

Sis, let’s stop comparing our weaknesses to what we perceive as others’ success. We are all given different gifts, talents, and strengths. God wants us to thrive in all we do. He will use our weakness through His strength to build our testimony and to prosper us. We just have to make sure what we are striving to do is what God has called us to do. Remember what we see on social media is often years of hard work and we are just seeing the polished finished product and often unrealistic highlight reels. So lean into his word and see the truth of what he has planned just for you. Let’s conquer comparison through God’s word. 

Let’s Pray

Dear God, 

We come to you today to first give gratitude for all the blessings we seem to forget you have given us. Father help us to remember you have created us for great things. That through your wisdom, your strength, and your holiness you will use our weakness and our brokenness for your good. Remind us when we feel comparison creeping in that you have given us each gifts and talents that are specifically created perfectly for your purposes. Help us to remember whose we are. We thank you and praise you for your grace on the days we have let comparison conquer us. Now help us to conquer comparison with your promises and your truth. 

In Jesus Holy Name, 

Amen

Megan Wurzelbacher

https://www.meganwurzelbacher.com/

Christian Standard Bible (CSB)

The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.