Crippling the Comparison Game
On the heels of Jesus’ compassionate and public reinstatement of Peter, Peter’s immediate response is to ask Jesus about John’s life. He says, “What about him?” And Jesus responds with, “What is that to you?” because Jesus knows Peter is playing the comparison game. We each have a holy and sacred path to walk in life, and very few things will sabotage that path like comparing ourselves to other people. Because when we play the comparison game, we’ll respond negatively in one of three ways. (1) We’ll either seek to become like them and less like ourselves, (2) we’ll become discouraged and pessimistic in our own journey, or (3) we’ll resent what God is doing in another’s life as a result of our own jealously and ungratefulness in our own. Jesus wants to rescue us from living like this. He wants to cripple the comparison game in our lives.