Are You Playing the Comparison Game? | Mark 7 | Crossroads Daily

Some mistakes that they had made and I remember thinking like dude. I got this as long as I don't have sex And I don't use drugs. I'm pretty much got it This is gonna be easy man. No, I don't I don't know I just like and I can very easily fall into like checking the boxes to do the thing and like be Mindless about are the habits that I'm doing actually connecting me to God This is the crossroads daily no experts no perfect people just honest conversations about what happens when the bible shows up in real life Welcome to Crossroads daily. My name is Caleb. I'm Chris. I'm Vivian And we are in mark still we're in mark chapters 7 today Continuing on in the uh the action-packed gospel a lot of stuff so much happening yes in mark And we're gonna do our best to try to cover it So in mark chapter 7 what stuck out to me on I would love to hear from you guys about it There seems to be this big contrast between the Pharisees who are supposedly supposed to be close to God But are not Jesus routinely calls them out and then in this chapter there's a greek woman who's not jewish Obviously she's greek she should have no access to God and she gets the miracle she's asking for She goes to jesus ask for healing for her daughter and jesus heals her Jesus is kind of flipping things on their heads who you expect to be close to god is not who you expect to be far from god Is actually close to god And it got me thinking i'd love to ask you guys the Pharisees who are like rule followers trying to do the right thing crossing the tees and dying their eyes Or the greek woman who really shouldn't be here at the party Which one do you relate to more the Pharisees or the greek woman? I could relate to both Okay I will say that On one hand I can be a rule follower and I feel like oh from the Pharisee if it says this then Yeah, this is what should happen But I also really related to the mom because I thought about it and i'm like When you're a mom and you have a sick kid, you don't care about the rules you will do whatever it takes

To help your kid and I have empathy for How she was feeling in all of this that she was willing to humble herself and compare herself to You know a dog to say but even the dogs get scrapped. So won't you help my kid? Yeah, totally I would also say both and I think leaning more towards the woman in some ways of I think I can be quick to like want to be low before jesus and be like I'm broken in these ways. I'm sinful in these ways like I am not worthy of standing before god But then I can take that To pull myself away from jesus as opposed to being like this means I need to approach him Like it's like I will Like all right, I need like a month away before I can come to him with this thing And the woman approaches him out of her humility She's like I have nothing to offer and I want help and then she even doubles down He like almost kind of sets her up to like that she could push away still, but she like pushes in further She's like, no, give me the crumbs. Give me anything and yeah, and I want more faith like that where it's like Yes, I am broken and sinful, but like I can approach jesus with confidence because he's invited me to do so Well, I'm glad I'm with you guys today because you'll probably make me better because I feel like I definitely relate more probably to the Pharisees And some of that is a lot of that is my upbringing. So I was raised in the church small very traditional style church small town, kentucky And I knew how to keep the rules like I knew what to do. I knew I was supposed to do this I was supposed to read my bible every day. I was supposed to pray every day I was supposed to not cuss I was supposed to follow my teachers whatever like I remember this is so prideful, but I remember being at summer camp as like a teenager And one of the like leaders got up and shared their story right about some Some mistakes that they had made and I remember thinking like dude. I got this as long as I don't have sex And I don't use drugs. I'm pretty much got it. Yeah, this is gonna be easy, man. Yeah, let's so Ridiculous to hear come out of my mouth and it was easy, right? It was so easy to avoid both those things uh

No, I don't I don't know. I just like and I can very easily fall into like checking the boxes to do the thing and like be mindless about Are the habits that i'm doing actually connecting me to god or are they just habits right that I have like good Good religious habits, but am I experiencing god in it right? I I would say in full transparency for me. It's not even just the habits It's on the outside, am I doing the things... But on the inside, I'm no, I'm a fraud because I know that I do things that I hide or that I try to look my best in front of other folks. And I know, I know, God sees the inside. But somehow, I still convince myself that, hey, if I look shiny on the outside, that maybe, you know, I'm still a good kid, right? - Yeah, yeah, I have a lot of, I still have a lot of the Pharisee in me. Honestly, I could probably say on both, the status thing that the Pharisees often hold to is what I can do very easily of, they were just, the only thing they did was be born into the family of God. Like that's, but they claim to that as like, well, this means that I have this access to God. That means I can put myself over others. Like, they really didn't do anything other than you just happen to be born at a certain place at a certain time. And I can do the same thing with my life of like, well, I grew up going to church and I've read my Bible, like this amount of times, and hey, I even got baptized. Like, I can just claim to these status things of like,

that means that I get to be close to God in this way, or that means I can look down on other Christians or other anyone else in the world and be like, I'm better than because of this status that I've achieved. And it's, it makes me love, it makes me not love people, it makes me just more prideful. Everything about me is worse when I claim my status on things that I have done, or I've just inherited over like, the grace that Jesus has given me. - Yeah, and it seems like it's a comparison game. - Yeah. - Right? - Yeah. - Yeah. - Like, well, I'm better than you like this, so I feel better about myself. I've done these things and you haven't, so I'm more serious than you are, whatever. What's the answer to that? What's the answer to getting out of the comparison game? What has it been for you? Like, what have you found that works? I'm asking for myself. Who likes to play the comparison game? - Yeah. - Okay, this is gonna sound a little crazy, but I think everybody sins all the time. I think it's whether we're aware of it. And so, if I can get good reflection time where I can confess, I can think about,

what are the things I need to confess? Because they're there, it's just whether they are a top of mind for me, and when I can do that, that helps the humility to kind of come in and go, "Ooh, thank you, God, that you can forgive all things, "and that you don't hold those things against me." And then, that takes me from having a higher than thou seat to, I'm just like everybody else. - Yeah. - I think a big thing for me is just the more time I spend in the Word in praying, the more it just reminds me that none of this story is really about me. And I wanna make life about me all the time, and I want a story of life to be about me, and my recognition or my honor and my achievement, but the more I read scripture, the more it aligns my heart to the character of God, and to walking and humility. And I would also say, like, a way, I guess, in the comparison game I found maybe some successes, like just not being as public with anything good that I happen to do in life. And my wife would say, like, I need to share a bit more about, like, some victories that I have in the brain. - Right, right. - Yes, 100%. However, I do feel like an easy thing to do is just always like to want everyone to know, like, hey, I did this good thing the other day, and like, I wanna make sure everyone knows about it, and like, the feeling and the pride that can attach to that,

and I think I've just found by like, letting it be between me and God, and like, one day in heaven, we'll get to celebrate that together, or I came with my wife now, or like, good friends, but like, not relying on other people's for the affirmation of the good deeds I'm doing, or the ways that they can go. - You're not taking it straight to Instagram. - Yeah. - Facebook, yeah. - Everyone tell me how great I am, look at what I did. - Yeah. - But that's like, what so much of social media is though, right? Like, so much, I don't even know why I get on it anymore. I'm like, I don't care, I don't care. It's just like self-promotion, right? - Yeah, I always have felt worse about myself, and other people every time I've scrolled through anything. - Yeah, 'cause even if it's someone that I do like who's doing something great, I still feel worse about myself, 'cause I'm not doing it. - Right, and like, oh, their family looks so good. They're such a good mom, there's a, yeah. - Look, they're in the world, you know, whatever the thing is, right? - Yeah. - I remember reading an interview with Bono, the lead singer of YouTube. I love me some YouTube. He was saying that the role of an artist just to like, take their heart and pull it out, and let everyone else see it, right?

Like, the good, the bad, and the ugly, and so it's one of the things that I try to do whenever I have outlets like this podcast, they're like writing, I wanna lead with my failures instead of my wins, you know, and that, like, you were saying, keeps me humble, 'cause I'm not playing the comparison game. I thought, following me, Jesus was just doing these three things when I was a teenager, I'm an idiot, you know? Don't be like me. You know finding ways to be the least in the last and serve other people which we're gonna get to later on in more Yeah, all right, so that's it for today. Thanks for hanging with us through March after seven Here's my challenge find a way to put yourself last today Find a way to do something for someone else Maybe you don't pick where you go eat to dinner tonight or maybe you let someone else have you So they iPad or whatever the thing is right make it about someone else today lower yourself a little bit and a bit You'll meet God as you do that. We'll see you next time You (upbeat music) (upbeat music)