I Am Not As Other Men

Luke 18:11

The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.

As Jesus tried to witness to this Pharisee, we see that this Pharisee was comparing himself to other men. Here is the mistake this man made: he was comparing himself to everyone else instead of to God. Comparison of yourself to others will always be a faulty comparison. It is not how you compare to others, it is how you compare to God and to yourself. The wise person will always compare what they do to what God wants them to do, and compare themselves to what they know they can do.

I realize that I am not as other men. It is not that I compare myself to others; it is the fact that God made me different from others that makes me realize I am not like other men. God says in 2 Corinthians 10:12, For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise. You will notice God teaches that it is unwise to compare ourselves to others. The reason it is unwise is because every person’s ability is different. For instance, God does not judge me for what another can do, but He judges me for what I can do. Therefore, I must learn not to compare myself to others because I am not as other men are, but I must compare myself to myself. Let me share three ways I compare myself to myself.

First, I compare myself to what I know I can do. Whether I do more or less than another is not as important as if I did what I can do for God. God will never judge me by whether somebody else does more than I do, but He will judge me by whether I did my best with what I can do. I am my biggest critic; I compare myself to what I know I can do and criticize myself when I know I can do better. It will be a great day for you when you look at your own life and critique yourself instead of critiquing others.

Second, I compare myself to last year. One of the great secrets of being successful and continually growing is knowing whether you are doing better today than you did last year at the same time. For instance, I keep records of our church attendance and compare our attendance year to year. This keeps me from getting discouraged when I think that I had a bad day. In your own personal life, if you compared yourself to where you were last year at the same time, you could find whether or not you have grown in the Lord. If you are further along today than you were last year on the same date, you have grown, and that pleases God.

Third, I compare myself to what I know to do. This is critical to keep you from compromising. You see, God has given me a rich heritage, and I have sat under some of the greatest pastors in America's history; therefore, I have a great responsibility to fulfill what they have taught me to do. I compare myself to what I know to do and see if I am doing what they have taught me to do. To know to do right and not to do it is sin. It really does not matter what everyone else is doing, because most do not have the background I have; therefore, comparing myself to what they are doing is not a fair comparison. When God has given you a great heritage, you have a responsibility to compare yourself to that heritage to be sure that you are doing what your heritage has taught you to do.