“Five years ago you and your family embarked on a cruise to Mexico! Remember how much fun you had? What a vacation THAT was! Today you’re driving across four states to visit friends and relatives. You call that a vacation?!”
Shut up, Facebook.
I’ve been looking forward to heading home. We’ve made plans to see people we love and haven’t been able to visit for over a year.
And—I’ll just stop right there. I’m not about to draw any connect-the-dot lines between Herr Zuck and The Shutdown, because that’s really outside the purview of this email. Move along folks. Nothing to see here.
Point is, sometimes comparisons can taint (if not spoil) the good and honest, and enjoyable things we are looking forward to in our lives. If we let them.
There’s an old saying, “Comparison is the root of all unhappiness”.
While I don’t think that’s entirely the case, I certainly believe that comparison is A root of MUCH unhappiness.
When we get wrapped up in the comparison trap, it robs us of joy and distracts us away from the pleasures that God has planned for us.
Yes, the PLEASURES that God has planned for us:
You make known to me the path of life; in your presence, there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Psalm 16:11 ESV
Today, instead of letting comparison leverage you away from joy, instead of letting worry siphon off your happiness, instead of letting anxiety wrap its talons around your heart, I invite you to read Psalm 16 in its entirety and let this be your prayer:
Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge. I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.” As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight. The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply; their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out or take their names on my lips. The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot. The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance. I bless the Lord who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me. I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure. For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption. You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Psalm 16 ESV
Did you catch that? The Lord is our chosen portion and our cup! When we choose him, we choose his goodness, his boundary lines, his inheritance, his counsel, his joy, and his security.
His path of life is beyond compare!
And walking his path?
That’s worship.
–Pastor Steve.