While many of you who may read this article are dealing with snow, ice, and general cold, I am sitting in my office with the windows wide open. I am wearing light pants, short sleeves, and have no shoes on my feet. Outside, I see the sun is shining and the sky is clear. I feel the soft wind blowing through the open window and I can hear the birds singing in the flowering trees and bushes that surround my home. This time of year many of the flowers are in bloom and some of the fruit trees are even producing.
The only negative that I know of is that while my fan is on, it is on it’s lowest setting because it is a little chilly today. Yes, 74 degrees is when we start wearing long sleeves, light jackets, or a hat. At night when it drops way down to 69 degrees my wife and I cover up with the down comforter and cuddle up, wishing we had a fireplace. Winter can be brutal here as my family and I are “living Aloha” on The Big Island of Hawaii.
Some of you who are reading this article will read the above statements and turn green with envy. Others will start planning a Hawaiian vacation. Still others will begin rationalizing why the place they live is better than, or at least as good as, Hawaii. One may say, “But I like the cold”, another may say, “Christmas would never be the same” , and still another might say, “I don't like humidity”. I submit to you that should each reader dwell upon the description given of my day enough, eventually every reader would come up with reasons why their home is as good as my home. Why? Because everyone likes to be the “positive comparison”.
The phrase, “positive comparison” came to mind as I was pondering a domestic situation presented to me in the church I was involved with on the east coast. A young woman was telling us her story. We will call her Anna. Anna had been involved in drugs, alcohol, promiscuity, and just about every other vice that the world had to offer. She had been in and out of rehab on several occasions and had spent time working as a prostitute. Through all of the ups and downs of her messed up life, Anna had always had the loving support of her family. They had housed her when she could not find a place to live or had run out of money. They had supported her and paid for her medical treatments and rehabs. Her family had driven hundreds of miles to pick her up when she was abandoned by a “john”. For this kind of love and support, Anna was both blessed and grateful.
However, Anna had a new problem. She had come to know Christ. She had been baptized, received the baptism of the Holy Ghost, was drug free, alcohol free, free of sexually transmitted diseases, had a job, and was excited about her new life in Christ. Her family situation was a different story. The family that had been so loving and supportive no longer wanted to have her around. They did not want to hear about what the Lord was doing in her life. They were “turned off” by her conversion experience and all they could tell her was that they didn’t want some kind of “God freak” in their home. She was no longer welcome.
Anna was crushed, demoralized, and very confused. Those who had been there for her in her worst times were now shoving her away in her best times. Her question was, “Why?”
I believe the answer lies in the concept of “positive comparison”. As long as Anna was in the gutter having to be “rescued” by her family, the family could feel good about themselves. You see, Anna was their comparison. She was the thing they used to judge their moral standing. She was what they looked at to prove that they were successful, happy, and righteous.
They were a regular, middle class family who had a “messed up” daughter. I am sure that they had other issues just as everyone does, but as long as they has Anna to look down upon, they felt pretty high in their moral standing. As soon as Anna began to better herself with the help of the Lord, the comparison that they used to judge themselves began to change. Their lies, ones that looked so insignificant when compared to what she would say for drug money, no longer looked small when compared to her new honesty. Their going to church once a month, which seemed so pious when compared with her hedonistic lifestyle, was not quite as holy when compared with her faithfulness. No longer could they look down upon her with pity but now, in some ways, they were having to look up. How could this person to whom they were always the positive comparison, suddenly become their positive comparison? They could not adjust to that sudden shift, nor did they desire to. The answer that these loving, caring parents chose was to separate themselves from Anna and demand that she stay away from them until she had gotten off of this “God kick”. Then and only then did they want to see her.
We sit in horror reading such a story. Unfortunately, the story of Anna is not singular in its existence. If you have been involved in the ministry for a while, you would be able to tell your own “Anna” stories. Why would people act like this to a life that was changing for the better? Simply because they want to be the positive comparison.
I submit to you that this was the same story that could be told of the religious rulers of Christ’s day and this is the idea that drove them to so viciously hate Jesus. That same desire is what ultimately placed Him upon the cross. Before His arrival, their covetous and hypocritical self promotion seemed just and holy when compared to the evermore secular Roman world that they were living in. They couldn’t handle it when one showed up in whom no fault was found.
It is the same story as the two brethren who were friends as long as one church was smaller than the other or the “success” of the ministry was heavily weighted on one side. When the smaller church grew or the invitations for the lesser known preacher increased, the friendship ended. Why? Because one was unwilling to lose themselves as the positive comparison.
The action that you will find equally in the lives of Anna’s parents, the religious leaders of Christ’s day, and the minister who can’t allow his friend to rise to an equal level of success is a distancing of themselves from the one who has changed the comparison and the acquisition of another “lessor” comparison.
The reader with a modicum of sense would realize that each of these identified are foolish, but the reader with a moment’s self reflection may further realize themselves sometimes guilty of the same. We all compare. We compare preaching styles, writing styles, church building success, evangelistic success. We compare levels of holiness or legalism as well as “real” infillings of the Spirit in revivals with “fake” infillings. The result is often the stripping down of the one seeing success, the pointing out of all of their flaws, and generally an attempt to prove to ourselves, if no one else, that we or the group we run with are still the “positive comparison”.
I believe that this is exactly why Paul wrote, “For we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.” (2 Corinthians 10:12) It is foolishness to compare ourselves with one another. We will always find somebody with whom we can position ourselves as the positive comparison. In the end, it is not you or I with whom the ultimate comparison will be made.
The judgement of God will be based upon how our work lined up with the revealed Word of God. In reality, that is the only judgement that matters. It is my opinion that our true reason for comparing ourselves among ourselves rather than comparing ourselves with the true positive comparison is because we always come up short when standing next to His Word. That is because His Word is an extension of an absolutely perfect God. I cannot judge my success or failure by looking at those who are around me. They cannot look to me as a source of comparison. We must look to His Word and make our comparisons there. One may say, “I cannot measure up to that.” No, you cannot and neither can I, but it is in that moment that we must be introduced to the Grace of God.
My brother, my sister, the Anna’s, the ministers around me, we are all in the same boat. We are doing the best we know how with the talents, information, and all the tenacity that we can muster. Our judgement of each other is a judgement against ourselves. The Pharisees that we talked about earlier were the only people who had a completely positive comparison living among them, and they never even recognized it. They had perfection living with them in the body of Christ Jesus. Since His ascension, there has been no other who has lived that perfect life and could be that positive comparison. We must stop trying to be what He already is...the positive comparison.
So go ahead and tell whoever will listen that your home is better than Hawaii. Tell them that you would rather shovel snow than ride the waves. Share with them your preference for the cutting, sub zero wind to the gentle tropical breeze. It’s okay with me...for when compared to Heaven, Hawaii looks like Hell.
