Moses sent men to explore the land of Canaan, which God had promised to give to the Israelites. Moses chose 12 leaders to explore Canaan and come back with a thorough report.

But fear settled deep into the hearts of these messengers: “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size...We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”

This was a sad statement because the Israelites did not seem to have understood the living God whom they were serving.

SAME CHARACTERISTICS

They had lost sight of who they were and God’s promise to give them the land. Their fear so angered God who asked: “How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in Me, in spite of all the miraculous signs I have performed among them”?

Many of us display similar characteristics. Someone else is always better than us. Women are prone to comparisons. The next woman always has a better figure, hair, face, education, clothes etc.

The biggest irony I have found regarding this is that the people we admire are actually admiring us and wishing they were us! Sometime back I got complementary education for my children in a school whose fees I never would have afforded.

NEGATIVE RAMIFICATIONS

All I could afford to pack for my children was bread or mandazi. When they came home in the evening, they would praise the school and talk of how nice their friends were. Those from rich families only wanted bread or mandazi while those not so endowed only wanted sausage and bacon!

Comparing our spouses, children, colleagues etc has negative ramifications:

• It reveals our insecurities. Why should our happiness depend on other people’s possessions? Why should we feel inadequate because we drive an old car because our neighbours or brothers drive limousines?

• When we struggle with comparison, we are usually comparing our weaknesses to the strengths of another. This is quite faulty because each one of us is gifted with one thing or another. When we do so, we rubbish the work of God who created us in a unique way.

• As in the example above of the Israelites, comparisons can cause us to lose focus on who we are and the potential in us.

Why for instance do we want to copy someone else’s business when God has put it in us to excel in a different way?

• Lastly, comparing ourselves to others only brings misery. Misery because no matter how much we try, we will never be someone else. Our incomes, families, predispositions, backgrounds and cultures are as different as day and night. We will be miserable because we will be living in someone else’s shadow.

Learn to enjoy life the way God has presented it to you. Of course you can work hard towards improvement but never spend hours calculating someone else’s account.