The Thief of Joy.

“Comparison is the thief of joy.” –Theodore Roosevelt

No disrespect to Theodore, but as I’ve been thinking about what robs my joy, comparison isn’t quite it. There’s a much bigger root to the problem than I think we tend to focus on. I believe comparison does steal our joy, but our ships are already doomed to sink far before we compare ourselves to anyone else.

When I’ve reflected on the things that make me upset, the things that I complain about, and the things that make me angry, I’ve become convinced of one thing: 99% of the time, these reactions are happening because my little throne is being shattered. My kingdom of self is not operating in the way that I planned it, and my pride is being hurt, because everything is supposed to work out for me. I believe I deserve it.

It’s so easy to say that I’ve given my life completely over to Christ and he sits on the throne of my heart, but if I take a second to step back and look at how I’m functionally living my everyday life, it’s easy to see that most of the time I only live under the illusion that I’ve given control to God. The truth is that I would rather God be my vending machine rather than my king. I desperately cling to control because if I don’t, I’m so afraid that my life won’t be fun. It won’t be entertaining. It won’t be about me anymore.

We all have the same root problem – we worship ourselves. We want to be popular. Attractive. Smart. Desirable. Wanted by others. And here’s where we discover the thief of joy – our world revolving around ourselves when it’s meant to revolve around another.

We were made to worship and love and serve someone other than ourselves. And even when we believe we’re controlling our own lives, the truth is that he’s controlling them anyway. But he actually knows what he’s doing. He knows our hearts inside out, he loves us completely, and he has a perfect plan for our lives. He has a plan that is going to result in forming us into glorious, beautiful, righteous people. And he’s going to do that not because our lives are about ourselves and he’s trying to assist in that purpose, but rather because our lives are about him and we will actually be happiest when giving him the glory.

Comparison will never have a foothold to steal our joy if we are elevating God to the highest position in our lives. Comparison is only damaging if it hurts your pride. If someone is “better” than you in a certain way, it only hurts you if you are finding identity in your success and someone is preventing you from lifting yourself high. But if we acknowledge that we are humble, needy sinners saved only by God’s grace and live for his kingdom rather than our own, than comparison can never be the thief of our joy.  

What if when things didn’t go the way we planned them, we surrendered it to God, saying, “I trust that you know what you’re doing and are working things for your glory and my good”? What if in every circumstance, even the hardest ones, we saw so much more value in knowing God that it didn’t matter if we have to sacrifice our comfort, security, or gratification? What if we actually stopped looking down at ourselves and trying to micro-manage every area of our lives, and instead looked up to our majestic God and worshiped him above all else?

I think we would finally start taking hold of the joy that God is offering us.