Comparing Ourselves
“Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Don’t be impressed with yourself. Don’t compare yourself with others. Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life.” Galatians 6:4-5 The Message
Yesterday after work my friend and I went out to play disc golf. It is a sport that I have played infrequently for many years, but have come to really like as I have recently been able to play more often. We play an 18 hole course at a beautiful park not far from my house. If you are not familiar with the sport the basic concept is to throw a disc, or hard small frisbee, into a metal basket. Just like golf you have a tee, or starting point, and you cound how many throws it takes you to get your disc in the basket.
I said that I play more regularly, but the truth is my friend is able to play much more often than I can. He can sometimes get out 2-3 times per week. He even has a cool little bag to hold his discs in and an application for his iphone that keeps track of his shots. (Have to admit I have that now too!) All this is to say that this preparation and practice is reflected in his score. Today he ended up with about 6 less strokes than I.
We were talking on the course about what would define success for our round. Although I lost by 6 strokes, he had 60 and I had 66, I was 2 strokes better than my previous best of 68. I could be very dissapointed because I “lost”, and that would be one way of interpereting it. However having the best score between us was not my goal. My goal was to get better over all, and that happened.
So what does disc golf have to do with worship? When it comes to our God given talents we should not compare ourselves to others. We should however strive to do our best. There will always be someone who is better. There is always someone who can play the piano prettier, or play the guitar lick faster, or sing higher. Competition is good, and seeing those people who are better drives me to become better myself. But my goal should not be to become better so I can say I am better, but to be a better steward of the gifts I have been given.
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