Who is the person you compare yourself to most often? Perhaps it is a family member, friend, or co-worker; perhaps it is even a celebrity.
We humans are comparison machines. We’re constantly evaluating the stimuli around us. Social media has exacerbated the issue, giving us instant access into the highlight reels of thousands of friends and celebrities. Psychology Today reports that, “According to some studies, as much as 10 percent of our thoughts involve comparisons of some kind.”[i] Friend, this kind of toxic comparison is harmful.
Much has been written (and may much more be written) on the threat of comparison as it relates to depression and envy. Ray Cummings’s words pierce: “the thief of joy is comparison.”
False comparison is dangerous because it steals more than our joy. Comparison is also the thief of humility, repentance, and worship.
In the 8th century, God called the shepherd and fig farmer Amos to bring a word of rebuke to Jeroboam, the king of Israel, of the impending destruction if Israel did not repent. Life was going relatively well for Israel under Jeroboam. Israel was seemingly protected from being in the crosshairs of the world’s powers and had relative economic prosperity. They compared themselves to their neighbors (Jonah’s escapade with Nineveh had not long passed) and gave themselves high marks in morality. God was under no such allusions. Sure, they went through the motions in their worship to God, but they also worshiped false gods. They were lazy, oppressive to the poor, grossly indulgent, and arrogant. Hear God rebuke them:
“Woe to those who lie on beds of ivory
and stretch themselves out on their couches,
and eat lambs from the flock
and calves from the midst of the stall,
5 who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp
and like David invent for themselves instruments of music,
6 who drink wine in bowls
and anoint themselves with the finest oils,
but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph!
7 Therefore they shall now be the first of those who go into exile,
and the revelry of those who stretch themselves out shall pass away.”
8 The Lord God has sworn by himself, declares the Lord, the God of hosts:
“I abhor the pride of Jacob
and hate his strongholds,
and I will deliver up the city and all that is in it.” (Amos 6:4-8)
God was not deceived by their comparison. They were the student getting a 54% on their final exam, expecting his grade to get pulled up to respectability by the power of the curve because he was surrounded by equally slothful classmates. But a passing grade was not in the books for Israel. Little were they concerned that within their lifetimes, the northern Kingdom would be no more, crushed and scattered by the Assyrians (Amos 6:7).
God tells Israel that he doesn’t grade on a curve, his standards are perfect. And their time is up.
“This is what he showed me: behold, the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand. And the Lord said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said,
“Behold, I am setting a plumb line
in the midst of my people Israel;
I will never again pass by them;” (Amos 7:7-8)
Perhaps, like me, your construction experience is limited. A plumb line is a string with a weight attached to the end. Masons and carpenters use a plumb line to create a vertical line. When the string is placed beside a wall, the weight dangles freely. Then it can become clear whether the wall is perfectly vertical. If the wall is leaning to one side, it will eventually collapse. And so it is when anyone other than Jesus is our plumb line.
When we use others as our righteousness yardstick, our miscalculation leads to a flawed measurement. Worse yet, this excogitation in our judgment gives rise to self-righteousness and arrogance.
There is only one measure of righteousness, and it is Christ himself. In Isaiah, the Lord explains that he is the mason who is building a temple with perfectly vertical lines. Those are all built on the cornerstone.
“Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion,
a stone, a tested stone,
a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation:
‘Whoever believes will not be in haste.’
And I will make justice the line,
and righteousness the plumb line” (Isaiah 28:16-17)
Jesus audaciously claims this cornerstone is himself. Jesus Christ, then, is not only the standard by whom we are judged, he is the only string who makes us perfectly vertical. We can be plumb because of Christ. Peter reflects on this work God is doing in us, “As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Pet 2:4-5). In Philippians, Paul reflects back on all of his attempts to make himself righteous and then looks to Christ in awe and gratitude as he considers that he could not attain “a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith” (Phil. 3:9). For in all of Paul’s efforts, he could not make himself plumb. But, by the grace of God, Christ not only revealed his sin, but then imputed to Paul his righteousness.
Comparison is, indeed, the thief of joy. It is also the thief of righteousness.
I flip open Twitter to watch from the sidelines of another evangelical intramural debate where interlocutors are rude and critical. “God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector” (Lk 18:11). I switch to Facebook, where I observe friends humblebrag and manipulate others. “God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector” (Lk 18:11). I swipe over to Instagram, where acquaintances reveal their need to present their manicured lives in a way that earns them fawning compliments. “God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector” (Lk 18:11).
“God, be merciful to me, a sinner” (Lk 18:13).
Beware the slender isthmus of comparison: the precipice of envy on one side, the precipice of pride on the other.
Do not allow comparison to enable you to coddle your sin, to replace the plumb line of Christ.
Christ, our cornerstone, is our only hope for righteousness. May he make straight our crooked walls by his precious double work of atonement and imputation. He has taken our crookedness and given us his righteousness. To him be the glory.
[i] Psychology Today, “Social Comparison Theory,” https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/social-comparison-theory
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