Taught live on Sunday, December 26, 2021
Intro: News Years Resolution: My Resolution was to lose 10 lbs. Only 15 to go!
- I am not smart, average grades, average athlete, under average musician.
- There is always someone who is er. (smarter, richer, thinner, faster, luckier, etc)
- Eventually, we don’t want er, but est. Smartest, richest, thinnest, fastest, luckiest, etc)
- There is no win in comparison.
- Discontent is fueled by comparison is dangerous.
- Thus, we don’t get along with est –misery.
- Whisper: You need what they have to be respectable, acceptable, lovable…
- Moral of the story? They have the same whisper in their head
1–Proverbs 14:30 – Envy rots the bones (extreme).
2–End game? Knock it off!
- Christians must stop comparing.
- Mental line of defense.
- 2 phases to help keep you between guardrails.
–Eccl 4:4 – All toil and all achievements spring from one person’s envy of another.
–Everyone is determining us by them.
#1. (Eccl 4:4) “Chasing after the wind” (dissatisfaction guaranteed).
- Catch yourself comparing? Say “Just chasing after the wind (no win).
- Our lives are too short to live comparable living.
- (v. 5) “Fools fold their hands and ruin themselves.
- Unproductive living is wrong.
- Don’t case the wind and give up!
- (v. 6) “Better one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind.” (hold up your hands)
- We assume more is better.
- Less is more when the you hold is what you’re created for.
- (v. 7-8) “Man working more but more unsatisfied.”
#2. (v. 8) “For whom am I toiling?” Why?
a. Some are trying to please mom, dad, friends, boss, etc….
b. Solomon filled his life comparing.
c. Some of us are luckiest on earth but we’ll never stop looking over our shoulder.
d. Remember, 14:30, “Envy rots the bones.”
e. Why am I depriving myself of enjoyment, stay in your lane God put you in.
Concl: Stop comparing yourself!