The Garrison of Comparison

“For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?.. You go into the vineyard too.’ And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages…’ And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me?’” Matthew 20:1-15

“Jesus said to him, ‘If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!’” John 21:22

It is sadly natural to go about our days in a garrison of comparison. We justify opinions and rights by measuring our acumen against others. We defend our actions and deserts with self-assessed righteousness. We deem ourselves morally superior and deserving of God’s better favor than those around us. We strut with swagger from our pride-erected platforms and demote or diminish others who live by a different compass or talent.

How different things look when we view them with God’s lens. How changed our focus, how upright the standard. Suddenly we are undone under the high and holy King and His angelic minions, and all defenses dissolve. Any greatness or reward we own comes by serving Him and others, and is His alone to commend. (Proverbs 27:2; Isaiah 6:1-8; Matthew 20:26-27)

How and where have we erected fortresses of pomp and self righteousness? Do we demand notice, obedience, or reward in the workplace, or credit, accolades, or relief at home? Do we treat others with disdain as lesser than us, or as more important than ourselves? How would we interact differently if we descended from our pomp and considered colleagues and neighbors as fellow image-bearers and church members as co-heirs? What would change in our worship if we looked to and followed Jesus only? (Genesis 1:15-17; Matthew 17:5-8; Romans 8:17; Galatians 3:28-29; Ephesians 3:6; Philippians 2:3-4)

Father, have Your way with all of me. Fix my contentment in You alone as my soul’s glory, joy, and crown.