Jesus once told a valuable parable that can teach us a thing or two about comparison—the story of the prodigal son. There were actually two prodigal sons in this story: the one who squandered his wealth and the one who envied and compared himself to the squanderer. Let's jump forward to the second son.
After finding out that his father had thrown a party for his brother who had returned after losing half of the man's riches, the older brother wanted nothing to do with it. In Luke 15:29b the older brother says, "...Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends" (ESV).
What's happening here? What's sounding a whole lot like "this isn't fair" is actually crying out "I want what he has." Often comparison can blind us from some awfully obvious truths. In this parable shared by Jesus, the older brother missed two important truths because of his comparison: there was a cause of celebration that his brother was back and alive, and he had the same access to the father's blessing.
Often in our tendency to compare and compete with other people, we can find ourselves in the same position as the older brother in this parable, wishing that our Heavenly Father would give us more because we deserve it more. We can tend to either look down at others or look down at ourselves. Both lead to two equally destructive roads: either we fall into pride or we fall into insecurity. Neither of the roads are what God wants for us.
We think that just because we tithe more often, we go to church, we read the Bible and we share the gospel that we are better than Christians than others, but that is never the case. No one is better than anyone because in a strict sense, we all have fallen short and are on the same boat. Philippians 2:3 actually urges us, "Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves" (ESV).
What God wants us to remember is just how blessed we already are in Christ and to desire and celebrate that same blessing for others instead of wanting more than the person next to us. 1 Timothy 6:6 tells us, "But godliness with contentment is great gain" (ESV). When we live a life led by contentment, we are urged into compassion not comparison.
Instead of comparing our blessings with others, a heart fixed on the security of the blessing we now have in Christ and the fullness that is in Him will respond in compassion towards those around us, which will lead us to celebrate when God comes through for them.
We are already blessed and we all have access to the same love and grace of God. Instead of coveting and comparing when a brother is reconciled and given a party, we can join the celebration and be compassionate towards the brother who now has received God's grace just as we have.
