How unfair and foolish would it be to compare my 5 year old to a 15 year old. No parent would ever do that yet as pastors, we do this every day. Ok, you already did this TODAY 🙂
We feel really good about what God did through our Easter services until we scroll through Twitter. Instead of being a virtual bulletin board of Family Wins, it’s become a virtual measuring stick among pastors. Tweet this! We felt amazing about Easter until we scrolled through Twitter. We were in awe of the 3 buddies we baptized until we read of “such and such church” who baptized 28 bazillion people over the weekend.
Andy Stanley says it this way: “There is no win in comparison. There’s no finish line, there’s no final sense of satisfaction. There is no win. If you’re better than people, that doesn’t help you. If you’re not measuring up to other people, it doesn’t help you. There is no win in comparison!”
Yes this is sin and yes there is no win. There is however, LOSS. When we compare we lose joy, gratitude, awe and delight in what God IS doing in our churches.  Ole Teddy had it right when he said “comparison is the thief of joy.”
One of the best gifts you can give your church is to be a pastor at peace. As Proverbs says: Tweet this! “A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.” –Proverbs 14:30
Today, you can choose to be a pastor who is not hung up or strung out on measuring up to everyone else. Today, you can choose to be a pastor who CELEBRATES the wins of other churches. When you see posts and updates of “such and such church” these are Family Wins. Today, you can be a pastor who sees comparison for what it really is…it rots the bones of the pastor and the plant.
I’d love to challenge you to take time this morning to thank God for what He did in 5 other churches this Easter weekend. Do not let Satan, the thief, use one of his oldest and most effective tactics on you today…defeat comparison by celebrating the wins of others.
I’ll go first. Today I am going to spend time thanking God for the WINS of Cherry Hills Community Church, Red Rocks Church, Community Christian Church, Soul City Church and Church of The City. I love you guys…celebrating WITH you!
-Jon
