Message Date: May 8, 2022
Bible
“The Stepford Wives” is a 1972 satirical novel by Ira Levin. The story concerns a talented photographer, wife, and young mother who suspects the submissive housewives in her new idyllic Connecticut neighborhood may be robots created by their husbands–an ideal created by popular opinion, that is actually not real and is, in fact, unattainable. The upside down world where truth is subjective and current opinion(what’s pretty, what’s popular, is objective.
- 1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. 2 We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. Hebrews 12:1-2 NLT
- There are things that aren’t necessarily sin but can still trip us up. Comparison is one of those things.
- Comparison feeds either the monster of insecurity or the demon of pride.
- Comparison is the number one weapon of the enemy.
- Comparison is cancer to contentment.
- 12 For we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise. 2 Corinthians 10:12 (NKJV)
- Comparison consistently clouds God’s call on your life. Only you can be you. Only you can fulfill your call. God has given you everything you need to accomplish your call.
- There are things that aren’t necessarily sin but can still trip us up. Comparison is one of those things.
- 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:8-10 NKJV
- Workmanship = poem
- I’m a poem–a poem from God’s own heart.
- Workmanship = poem
- 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:10 NKJV
- There is a duality to your destiny:
- Universal destiny (every Christian)
- Unique destiny (who God created and redeemed you to be)
- There is a duality to your destiny:
- There are three areas where comparison wreaks havoc.
- Appearance
- What she thought:
- Do not look upon me, because I am dark, Because the sun has tanned me. My mother’s sons were angry with me; They made me the keeper of the vineyards, But my own vineyard I have not kept. Song of Solomon 1:6 NKJV
- The truth:
- 8 If you do not know, O fairest among women, Follow in the footsteps of the flock, And feed your little goats Beside the shepherds’ tents. 9 I have compared you, my love, To my filly among Pharaoh’s chariots. 10 Your cheeks are lovely with ornaments, Your neck with chains of gold. Song of Solomon 1:8-10 NKJV
- What she thought:
- Ability
- 27 Then they told him, and said: “We went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. 28 Nevertheless the people who dwell in the land are strong; the cities are fortified and very large; moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites dwell in the land of the South; the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the mountains; and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan.” 30 Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it.” 31 But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.” 32 And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. 33 There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.” Numbers 13:27-33 NKJV
- What they thought:
- “we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”
- The truth:
- 9 and said to the men: “I know that the Lord has given you the land, that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land are fainthearted because of you. Joshua 2:9 NKJV
- What they thought:
- 27 Then they told him, and said: “We went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. 28 Nevertheless the people who dwell in the land are strong; the cities are fortified and very large; moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites dwell in the land of the South; the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the mountains; and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan.” 30 Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it.” 31 But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.” 32 And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. 33 There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.” Numbers 13:27-33 NKJV
- Acclaim
- 5 Whatever Saul gave David to do, he did it—and did it well. So well that Saul put him in charge of his military operations. Everybody, both the people in general and Saul’s servants, approved of and admired David’s leadership. 6-9 As they returned home, after David had killed the Philistine, the women poured out of all the villages of Israel singing and dancing, welcoming King Saul with tambourines, festive songs, and lutes. In playful frolic the women sang, “Saul kills by the thousand, David by the ten thousand!” This made Saul angry—very angry. He took it as a personal insult. He said, “They credit David with ‘ten thousands’ and me with only ‘thousands.’ Before you know it they’ll be giving him the kingdom!” From that moment on, Saul kept his eye on David. 1 Samuel 18:5-9 MSG
- If the brightness of the blessing blinds you from the blesser, it will ruin you.
- Saul is a case study of what comparison will do to you.
- 5 Whatever Saul gave David to do, he did it—and did it well. So well that Saul put him in charge of his military operations. Everybody, both the people in general and Saul’s servants, approved of and admired David’s leadership. 6-9 As they returned home, after David had killed the Philistine, the women poured out of all the villages of Israel singing and dancing, welcoming King Saul with tambourines, festive songs, and lutes. In playful frolic the women sang, “Saul kills by the thousand, David by the ten thousand!” This made Saul angry—very angry. He took it as a personal insult. He said, “They credit David with ‘ten thousands’ and me with only ‘thousands.’ Before you know it they’ll be giving him the kingdom!” From that moment on, Saul kept his eye on David. 1 Samuel 18:5-9 MSG
- Appearance
- The WORD is the mirror that tells you who you are.
- 18 But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit. 2 Corinthians 3:18 ASV
- 23 For if any one is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a mirror: James 1:23 ASV
- Pride and envy are the twins born of comparison.
- God gave you grace to run YOUR race!