­Limitless 5: Limited by the Comparison Trap

Do you often compare yourself to others?

Our limitless God made us in His image. We are made to be limitless, but yet there are habits that will place limits upon your life.

Hello and welcome to everyone watching and listening online, as well as to all of the beautiful people in the room. My name is Chris Fluitt and I welcome you to Redemption Church.

What kind of Church is Redemption? We are the kind of Church that connects to culture. We actively look for way to communicate the Gospel of Jesus to new generations. We will try to do this today.

LIMITLESS

In January of this year, 2018, we preached a sermon series called Limitless. #limitless2018

We want to take a few weeks to make sure you are still living a limitless life, by looking at some habits that limit ourselves. 

God is limitless! And we are made in the image of this limitless God. God has given you limitless power, love, wisdom, and riches. You are limitless!

Philippians 4:13 (KJV) I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

We can do all things through Christ. Through Christ we are limitless. YET.. there are some habits and practices that will take us out of Christ and put limits on our life.

LIMITED

Redemption Church do you want to live in the limitless life of Christ? If we want to live in the limitless, we need to lay aside the weights & sins (Hebrews 12:1) that cause us to live under limits. 

One of these limiting practices is the Comparison Trap.

 COMPARISON TRAP

Do you ever catch yourself comparing yourself to others? Have you ever compared your finances to others?

• Your car & house?


• Your spouse, your kids?


• Your body, physical appearance?


• Your abilities to others?


• God’s blessings?

CHALLENGE

#1 Recognize how many times you compare yourself to others. How frequently do you compare?

#2 I want you to pay attention to how the comparison makes you feel? How do you feel about yourself? how do you feel about others?

When it comes to comparison, scripture is very direct in telling you not to do it.

Let’s look at some of these scriptures.

2 Corinthians 10:12 (NIV2011) We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise.

We DARE NOT classify or compare ourselves… Classifying is the rating system that causes you to think of someone as 1st class, and that you are second class.. or that you are of a higher class than others… It is very destructive.

To measure & compare yourself by yourself is not wise. That’s like running a race all by yourself, and then after finishing the race, declaring yourself to be the fastest person alive. People like this always crown their own achievements and don’t think highly of others.

Galatians 6:4 (NIV2011) Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else,

Pride is usually spoken of as something to avoid. There are a lot of scriptures that warn us about pride. But here Paul tells us about taking pride in ourselves… in our actions and achievements.

Take a look at your work. Test if it is the best you can do. Then you can take pride in your work, without comparing yourself to someone else.

Being happy for a job well done is healthy, but comparing your work to others is something to avoid.

COMPARISONS LIMIT

This month marks my 2nd anniversary since I went back to the gym. It can be very intimidating walking back into the gym after a long hiatus. I want to tell you about two limiting ways to compare yourself in the gym.

I want to introduce you to the House.

I call him the house because he is as big as a… HOUSE! This person has muscles on top of muscles. They have very low body fat. In fact, if you get close enough you will notice they don’t have ear lobes… they actually have abs where their ear lobes should be. These people lift big weight and it is very impressive.

So you walk into that gym and you see THE HOUSE pushing 125 dumb-bells in each hand… Do you even know how huge 125-pound dumb-bells are?

125 POUND DUMB-BELL

You see the house lifting this weight and then you attempt to work out near this monster. You go to select your weight and you can’t help but compare yourself to the house. You go over and pick up a 25-pound weight and you try to start your bicep curls only to find that the weight you chose was too heavy… with great shame you go over and pick up the 15-pound weights instead. You can’t help but think “I don’t look great… but I look even worse next to this guy.”

COMPARISONS LIMIT

People that compare themselves to the house will limit themselves. They will usually quit and never come back to the gym. They look at the house and they look at themselves and think… why should I even try and they go back home to their couch, Netflix, and potato chips.

But there are other people at the gym you could limit yourself through comparison.

Sometimes you walk into that gym and you see THE MOUSE. I want to introduce you to the mouse.

The mouse is not muscular. The mouse comes in different sizes. They may be overweight or just skin & bone with no muscle. They are in the area of the weight room where they have dumb-bells that you could swear were made by fisher-price toys.

FISHER PRICE DUMB-BELL<img alt="limitless" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-5840 imgborder" src="https://i2.wp.com/redemption-