Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Caught in the Comparison Game?: How to Get Out with Guest Host Tanya Willmeth | My Favorite Verses | Galatians 2.20

Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to Tim Minut Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life in the time it takes to get to work. My name is Patrick Miller. And I'm Keith Simon. We are currently exploring some of our favorite Bible verses and how they've changed our lives. Also, if you want to connect with us, follow us on Twitter at TMBT podcast. You can also check out our hashtag, hashtag, Ask TMBT, where you can ask us anything, and we'd love to connect with you. Hey, it's Keith. I want to introduce you to Tanya Wilmuth.

Starting point is 00:00:36 She is going to share one of her favorite Bible verses. She and her husband Eric have been good friends of my wife and I for a few years now. And Tanya has a lot of things going on in her life. But one of those is that she's a really good Bible teacher. I think you'll enjoy listening how the Bible has affected her life. When I was probably in sixth or seventh grade, I really wanted a pair of Alley Gear High Top. My friend Sarah had them, well, with a lot of other things that people must have liked because they liked her. I can't really remember the tennis shoes I was wearing at the time, but I'm sure they were practical and fine.

Starting point is 00:01:13 Like not embarrassing, but also not noteworthy. And that was pretty much my problem. I wanted to be noticed, to be affirmed, and not just fine. I pictured myself having those shoes, lacing them up and looking, Just like Sarah. It's true. I think I really believed less in being a cooler version of my own self, but actually being her instead. It's my earliest memory of playing the comparison game. And I was playing it pretty well. Everything about it was rooted in this ingratitude for who I was. I grew up in the country. She lived in the country club. I had parents who spent money on boring things like farm equipment and she had a mom who liked to buy new clothes. I was known for being a good student and she was beloved for her looks and her genuine smile. I think people actually liked her better because she liked herself better. But in my mind, the leg your shoes would just solve it all.

Starting point is 00:02:18 Because I continue to live different but repetitive versions of this same story, I have a verse I hold close. It's a verse I go back to when I need it, even though my motives are sometimes better than others. I feel a little bit like Dory from the movie Finding Nemo, though, when it comes to this verse, because I truly forget so easily and so quickly what it means in my daily ebbs and flows of life. I'm hopeful that in my resurrected life, God will have it implanted eternally in my memory. From Galatians 2.20, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.

Starting point is 00:03:02 And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Paul penned these words through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in a pretty notable chapter on justification by faith alone. I can relate to Paul in his excitement here to share what's really true about it. us and this freedom we have when we actually believe it and accept the gift God offers. I think Paul and I could have a lot to chat about when it comes to wanting to be something other than who we really are. Paul spent a lot of his time before he met Jesus doing things

Starting point is 00:03:44 that he thought were really impactful for God's kingdom, persecuting people who followed Jesus. He thought he was doing really great work for God. He was just completely missing the point of who God was and what he actually created Paul to do. After a really long time of people asking me about my enneagram number, you know that personality test thing that everyone's talking about, or better yet, people telling me which one they thought I was, I decided a few months ago to take the test for myself. I scored a solid three. And if you know anything about the eneogram, you know, this isn't the most desirable outcome. Or at least I didn't think so.

Starting point is 00:04:28 When I pulled up the descriptions to read about threes, I couldn't deny they were true, but I wish the words would have been a little bit softer. High achiever, driven, likes to win, wants to be known and noticed for doing things well. It was the last part that really caught my attention, though, something about being good leader and getting others to buy in. That doesn't sound so bad. But then it went on to talk about how threes are able to morph into other roles, to manipulate those around them to make them happy or get things done.

Starting point is 00:05:04 Wow. Yeah. They might as well have written my biography at the bottom. Reading your Engram is like reading a list of all the things you probably love and hate about yourself. I think the enemy loves comparison because it keeps us oscillating. between self-love and self-loathing. And Galatians 220 is in opposition to both of those. Honestly, it's just not about self at all.

Starting point is 00:05:38 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I think these words sound like they're all about Jesus. These are words of surrender and love. The love is toward us but from God.

Starting point is 00:06:04 And because he loves us so much, the surrender was initiated by God so we could take on his identity. That giant hole left behind when I stop loving and hating myself makes room for me to live out my unique gifts and traits in the reality of Christ who lives inside me. When I do this, it's Christ. I imitate and Christ others see. That phrase, though, imitating Christ, it's kind of confusing. So let's take a minute and just look at what it is and what it isn't in real life words. It isn't playing the comparison game, the one that justifies us temporarily. Paul's culture placed a lot of

Starting point is 00:06:53 value on laws and rituals and where you were born and who you were. And our culture places a lot of value on those things too and ideas and accomplishment. We tend to believe this lie that those are the things that make us valuable or worthy. And for sure, ideas, accomplishment, success, those are good, good things. But our fallen nature, or like the verse says, our flesh, it can just take the good out of it when we turn it into a comparison game. See, in order to really imitate someone, we have to really study them. Opting out of the comparison game, though, it's an active and a daily and a moment by moment choice to stop studying and obsessing over other people and what they're doing and how well they're doing it and analyzing their words and choices. And it's

Starting point is 00:07:52 at the same time, choosing to find and study what God is doing in them and around them and in us. I've heard someone describe comparison as living in a house full of mirrors instead of windows. It means that instead of being able to see God's light and reflection in his world and his people around you, all you really see is yourself, either your own goodness, or your own flaws. I think Paul lived in that kind of world before he met Jesus too, and probably sometimes even after, based on the real things he said about his life in his letters. Imitating Christ is about being real and honest.

Starting point is 00:08:42 Paul later says, I do the things I don't want to do and don't do the things I want. I think that's my second favorite verse. When we're transformed into his image, we start to see. see ourselves rightly. And what we see is that God is totally transforming us and that God still has a ton of work to do. The last part of Galatians 220 says, and the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. That means we trust God, moment by moment to use the real people we are and the unique ways he has made us to have spiritual effectiveness in what we do. Let me just say, I don't think this checks well in a spreadsheet.

Starting point is 00:09:32 It's all over the board and it looks totally different in all kinds of people. My good friends are right now, probably out there saving lives and building their own companies. In fact, I know they are. They do it every day. They're part of God's process to restore the world, and it's easy to see and easy to celebrate. But the cool thing is that they remind me that I do equally important things. I seriously crack up when they call me God's soldier. But it's true. A life of faith puts legs on things.

Starting point is 00:10:08 It puts eternity behind even the most mundane things that are done for God's kingdom. Maybe I'm like Dory or Paul. Here I am comparing again, but I have to have some filters to help me remember how to actually live out Galatians 220, because I truly do want to lace up the L.A. gears and have Christ be the one people see. I think everyone will like him better anyway. So here are my three. Maybe you have your own, or you can tweak these to fit. But I hope they help.

Starting point is 00:10:41 Number one. Does it light you up? If so, do more of it and do it often. God's the one that put that light in you. So draw a circle around yourself as you travel throughout your day and do it for those who fall within the circle. Is it asking questions or saying and remember someone's name? Then do it at the grocery store in your office at the sacrofield. Let the light of God shine through.

Starting point is 00:11:11 the way He made you. Number two. Does it grow you in your faith? If it stretches a little or causes you to depend on God, then that is a good place to get comfortable with being pretty uncomfortable. He promises to make us more like Jesus, and I'm pretty sure no one's asking you yet to sit for a portrait of the Savior. Be an active participant in the places and people that are going to make you want to be

Starting point is 00:11:39 more like him. and help you do the hard things to get there. Commit to and follow through with relationships and obligations that grow you in your faith. Number three. Does it fit in with the values that God uniquely gave to you? Here's how I sort that out for myself. Does it line up with my core values of family time and friendship? or my less big but also important values of things like exercise and outdoor time and creative space.

Starting point is 00:12:15 These are unique to me and help me guide my life decisions and even understand the ones I've already made subconsciously. They also help me see why other people make different ones and be okay with that and even supportive instead of envious or judgmental. Christ, who was willing to die as that he could live in me, means that I matter. And the way I made matters. And weirdly, at the same time, I'm also being transformed into his image. It's hard to wrap my mind around, but it's so very cool. Teddy Roosevelt was straightforward and just accurate when he said, comparison is the thief of joy.

Starting point is 00:13:02 If I'm created for eternity, I don't want to spend all that time trying to be someone else. I'm looking for the joy in being who God created me to be. Thanks for listening. If you've enjoyed this content, please subscribe and give us a rating. That helps others find this podcast more easily. Also ask yourself who you could share this podcast with. Texting an episode to a friend or family member is a great way to help them grow spiritually. If you want to go deeper, check out our show notes for book recommendations.

Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Caught in the Comparison Game?: How to Get Out with Guest Host Tanya Willmeth | My Favorite Verses | Galatians 2.20

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.