Are You Trending?

We live in a very technologically-driven society where social media is a steady and constant factor in our lives. We spend so much time every day on our phones, and on our computers posting statuses, tweeting and retweeting, and scrolling up and down on our timelines. At one click of a mouse or one swipe up, we are constantly exposed to everything and everybody and engaged in the most trivial to the most important details or snapshots of the person’s lives for the people we follow online.

However, we are only seeing what they want us to see. We are seeing a condensed highlight reel (if you will) of their lives that reflects the good moments, the highs, and the mountaintop experiences. Rarely do we see the valley experiences, the lows, or the dry places of a person’s life on social media. Generally, no one wants to talk about that or show that to the world.

Often, we can find ourselves, comparing our lives to those we follow on social media, especially in our low, vulnerable, or insecure moments. We compare our miserable jobs to their amazing career. We compare their fabulous houses to our modest one-bedroom apartment. We compare our spouses, children, bodies, families, and everything else in our lives that we may be concerned about or having difficulties with at that moment, to someone else’s condensed highlight reel on social media.

Bow Out of the Comparison Game

It’s a very dangerous game to play, and one that God would not desire for us as Christians to participate in. The winners of the comparison game are those who don’t play at all. Instead of comparing our lives to others, the only person to whom we should compare ourselves is Jesus. The apostle Paul encourages us in 1 Corinthians 11:1 that we are to be “imitators of Christ”.

As Christians, Jesus is our standard. He is our role model. Our lives should be compared to His – not “theirs”. In 1 John 2:6 NLT, it states that “Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did.” Therefore, we should constantly strive to be more like Jesus, and not like anyone else.

No matter how great someone else’s life appears to be, God thinks that you are great, too! He created you on purpose for a purpose. He was intentional in creating you because He knew that the world needed a “you”.

No, you aren’t perfect, and your life isn’t perfect, but God doesn’t expect you to be. If everything was always perfect for you and your life, you wouldn’t need Him. Know that it is okay to be perfectly imperfect and a work in progress.

So, What’s the Play Call?

Break loose and be free of the comparison game. Embrace yourself. Embrace the “you” who God created you to be. Be authentic, be bold, be unashamed to be you…and no one else.