If I had to choose between my wife and my putter... well, I’d miss her.
Unhelpful comparisons
Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone without comparing themselves to someone else. Galatians 6:4In the UK we have an expression “Keeping up with the Jones”. The Joneses have a new car/ super HD TV set/two holidays abroad a year… so I need all those things too. Paul says we should not spend our lives comparing ourselves with others. He seems also to be saying that we cannot blame others for our own failures.
In so far as we are to worry about other people, it is by caring for them. In 6:2 Paul writes “Carry each other’s burdens”. We are to notice other people’s needs and help them. In 6:10, Paul writes “let us do good to all people”. We are not to look enviously at others. We are to look sensitively at them and be ready to help.
The advice to avoid comparisons is not completely realistic in sport. We have league tables, world rankings, we list PRs [personal best] and season’s bests to help everyone to know their place in the pecking order. These rankings are helpful provided we do not let them define our value as people.
I was struck by something a medal winner in the recent World Athletics Championships said to me. She describes a previous championship where she had run well but finished badly because she had allowed other runners to dictate the race. She said that she had decided not to let that happen again and that she would run her own race regardless of others.
A helpful thought for sport and life.