Comparison as a Faith-Preneur
Faith-preneurs, today we are going to be talking about the topic of comparisonitis in business. What is the new perspective that we should be looking at and how does it apply to you?
Comparison is something that plagues the entrepreneurial community. And I would dare to say that it not only plagues the entrepreneurial community but just people in general. We're always looking to see what someone else has compared to what we have.
Comparison is a big issue that God wants us to address because it pauses you.
It stops you. It puts a big wall in front of you where it makes everything that you are called to do, all of a sudden impossible.
When I spent an evening looking at other people on social media God said, Monica, take a deep breath.
You need to see this from my perspective.
James 3:16
"For where You have envy and selfish ambition. There you find disorder and every evil practice."
Yes. And we, and selfish ambition. Let me tell you the amount of time I spent looking at other people and what they were doing the other day was not only a waste of time,
The comparison trap leads us to believe that God's blessings are in a limited supply. It leads us to believe that maybe, just maybe if I do things differently, my success will be better.
Maybe then it's no longer about my faith and life purpose and assignment. It's more about me and approval. Either approval of myself or other people approving me.
And God says there, you will find disorder and every evil practice because then you start working on your own.
Here's the thing that he taught me about timing and comparisonitis, and I pray that this is going to break this off for you. Like it did for me.
See God's timing is so specific for every one of the things that he has called you to do.
He is so strategic when it comes to timing that He works intentionally behind the scenes, connecting the dots.
And if you go too fast, you're going to miss the people that I have assigned to you, said the Lord.
There is a specific person, persons, people assigned to you.
If you move too fast, you're going to miss them. And the only reward you get is the pat on the back that you can give yourself yet. Your God-given purpose was completely missed in your pursuit of wanting to be like everyone else.
God makes no mistakes in His connections. God makes no mistakes in his timing.
Your pace is marked by your maker.
Your pace is marked by your maker. We cannot be willing to set the pace of our businesses. Of course, who doesn't want to be successful, who doesn't want to monetize their business, who doesn't want to have this be like a success just really quick.
We all want that. We all want a quick fix. We all want the hacks. We all want things to move faster, but he keeps repeating to me, those words, your pace is marked by your maker.
The moment you step out of pace, you are out of sync. You are out of sync to win the race. It reminds me of those relay racers.
Pass The Baton
They are so in tune with their steps, especially when they're handing the Baton over. If they're just a little bit out of sync, they either drop the Baton or delay the time for a few seconds, which can cost them the race. Each and every one of us is part of that relay race.
As entrepreneurs, we may be passing that Baton to each other saying, "Hey, I learned how to do this. Let me show you how to do it. I can teach you how to make your website". Let me go pass that Baton to you. Now you, with that website go and make money with your business and serve your people. And it could be a flow like that.
Or you are passing the Baton of life, a value of truth to your assignments in the marketplace, where you are creating true transformation.
But what if you are running fast and they're still sitting in the grass, not even on the track, I'll never forget. When we put the older set of twins in soccer and they were four years old, it was like, pre-K soccer. Caleb was the goalie for that game. And I can remember I was looking over because Leila was out on the field, running around, and then I turned around and I see Caleb. And instead of being in front of the goal net, he was off to the side, picking some flowers in the grass and I yelled to get back in position.
You're going to miss it! And so he tried to run back over, but he was close to the net and somehow he had been putting his foot and it got entangled in the net. So instead of running over, he falls over and it was just a mess.
Keep in Sync
Of course, they made a goal. I'm using that illustration to point out that we need to keep in sync with His pace. You don't want to miss the ones that He has named on your list for you to impact the kingdom.
I hope that that, that idea, that concept, that new way of being and showing up inspires you and break off what the enemy wants to use to stop you. Maybe right now, you're going too slow.
And God is saying, "Hey sister, Hey brother, let's hurry it up here. Let's hurry things up a little bit. I've got someone waiting for you."
On the other side of you putting that pay button on your launch or on the other side of you starting that ministry or on the other side of you writing that book, whatever it may be, He could be saying, let's speed this up.
Because once again, you're off pace and you're going to miss them.
We need to sink in unison. And the only way that we're going to be able to do that, my friend is going back into that prayer closet.
I want you to think about where you currently are right now as a business owner. Don't think for a minute that He does not know what you're up to. Don't think for a minute that He doesn't have a desire to teach you something exactly where you are.
Are you convicted?
And right now I know those of you listening are feeling convicted. You're either saying I'm going too slow, or I'm going too fast. Let me get back in sync because my mind is wandering.
I'm not focusing on what I need to get done. I'm looking at someone else's lane, or I'm still playing in the grass. It's time to get on the track.
Okay? It's time to get on the track. Why? Because there's someone that you have to pass that Baton to.
And if you don't, what ends up happening is that someone else will. Are you willing to let someone else who does decide to get into the race, take the blessings of the experience of being used by God himself as a tool in the world to be his light?
There are lots of distractions, but that's why we pray every day to have the mind of Christ.
There are lots of reasons why we say we can't. But once again, those are all lies. We need to force our emotions and our mindset to obey the truth of the word.
There's no other option if you want to run at the same pace that God wants you running,
Force yourself to be obedient. Never again, will I let myself be excluded from the team, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, and me. That's the team. We're the dream team, right?
That's how entrepreneurs should look at comparison. Let's pray that God would help us to stay on our lanes, to appreciate, to cherish every single moment, to squeeze every bit of juice out of the experiences that He has for us so that we can be more effective for him.
That is the plan. That is the prayer. That is the hope. That is the wish. So let's go ahead and do that.
Prayer
Father, God, we are so thankful that you would bring this topic up for us to discuss. We know that we have access to seeing so much these days, it's at the touch of a button.
We can access it 24/7, what every other person is doing yet Lord, you say that envy and selfish ambition is just leading us astray to a place of disobedience, to a place of chaos, to a place where you have never, ever called us to be.
And so today, Lord, I want to take that envy, that jealousy, that spirit of comparison.
I just want to cast it out in the name of Jesus, out of every single person, listening to the sound of my voice, because we say, no, we say no to the words, to the ideas and the thoughts that tell us that we should be like someone else.
You have made us from head to toe. So unique, so loved, so specific. So cherished. And yet in those moments where we choose to look at someone else with envy, we are forgetting who you have created us to be.
And so Lord, we ask you to draw us back to you to understand exactly who we are in your sight.
We are worth so much more than rubies, as you say, and we can be used so much more than what we are trying to accomplish on our own. Therefore Lord, we are setting everyone else's race down and we are choosing to put our running shoes on and pick up our own.
There is no need for rushing. There is no need for stress, anxiety, overwhelm. in the life of a faith preneur when we are running in sync with you.
When we do that, we are sustained. We know how to pace ourselves for the long race and you will always provide what we need.
You will always pace that person who you have called us to minister to through our businesses. You will always place them in the exact place that we need to find them and see them and love on them.
So we thank you, Lord, for this new revelation and we just ask that you would help us practice this new way of being, this new outlook so that it becomes so ingrained in us that we can no longer do anything but cheer other people.
We'll cheer them on and we will do the work that you have called us to do. We ask all these things in Jesus' mighty name.
Amen.
Your assignment is waiting,
