What Is That to You? Follow Me

Reflection

Comparison is often part of how we view the world around us. We compare things when we shop, when we eat, and sometimes even when we measure our own lives. We look at what someone else has, how they are treated, what opportunities they receive, or how their life seems to be going, and before we know it, we are measuring our own circumstances against theirs.

Growing up, my brother and I could find plenty of things to compare. We would look at each other's plates to see who got the bigger piece of chicken or who had the most mashed potatoes. We wondered why Momma let one of us off easy while the other seemed to receive the stricter discipline. At the time, those things seemed very important to us. But even after we grew up, comparison did not necessarily grow up with us.

The Subtle Trap of Comparison

As adults, we can compare ourselves with people at work, in our families, and even at church. We may wonder why someone else seems to have an easier life, why their prayers appear to be answered, why they have opportunities we do not have, or why God seems to be doing something different in their lives. If we are not careful, comparison can become more than an observation. It can begin to affect our hearts.

Sometimes it can lead to resentment or offense. We may begin feeling overlooked, treated unfairly, or forgotten. We can even allow someone else's blessings to make us question what God is doing with us. Instead of being thankful for what God has placed in our hands, we become preoccupied with what He has placed in someone else's.

Comparison pulls our attention away from what Jesus has asked us to do and places it on what He is doing with someone else.

Bringing Our Focus Back to Christ

Peter experienced something like this in John 21. Jesus had just been speaking with Peter about what was ahead of him. Three times Jesus had told Peter to feed His sheep, and then He told him something about the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Peter's future was not going to look easy.

Then Peter saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them and asked, "Lord, and what shall this man do?" In other words, Peter had just been told something difficult about his own future, and now he wanted to know what was going to happen with someone else.

Jesus' answer is something I think we all need to hear sometimes: "What is that to thee? follow thou me."

There is something very direct about those words. Jesus did not give Peter an explanation about the other disciple's future. He brought Peter's attention back to where it needed to be. What someone else was going to experience was not Peter's responsibility. Peter had his own calling, his own path, and his own responsibility to follow Jesus.

I think this is where comparison can become dangerous for us. It can pull our attention away from what Jesus has asked us to do and place it on what He is doing with someone else. We can spend so much time watching another person's life that we neglect our own walk with Christ.

Learning from Joseph's Focus

I have thought about Joseph in this way. For years, Joseph lived through circumstances he did not choose. He was separated from his family, sold into bondage, and eventually found himself serving in Egypt. Yet while Joseph was there, he could look around and see people who did not worship the true God. Some of those people had positions, possessions, and lives that Joseph himself did not have.

He had plenty of reasons to look around and wonder why their lives seemed better than his. Yet Scripture does not show us Joseph becoming consumed with what others had. Instead, we see him continuing to honor God where he was. When temptation came through Potiphar's wife, Joseph's concern was not what he could get away with or what another person was doing. His response was, "how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" (Genesis 39:9). Joseph kept his focus on God.

Faithful Where We Are

That does not mean Joseph enjoyed what happened to him or that his circumstances did not hurt. Scripture tells us about the difficulties he experienced, and eventually God changed his circumstances. But Joseph did not have to know when that would happen in order to remain faithful.

There are times when we may need that same reminder. We may look around and see someone else receiving the opportunity we wanted, enjoying the relationship we hoped for, experiencing financial ease while we struggle, or seeming to move forward while we remain in a difficult place. We may even see people who do not appear to care about God prospering while we are trying to remain faithful to Him.

That can become a real test of our hearts.

What happens when someone else gets what we wanted? Can we still thank God? Can we rejoice for another person without turning their blessing into a statement about our own lack? Can we continue following Jesus when our path looks different from someone else's?

Following Him Step by Step

Minding our own business, in a spiritual sense, does not mean that we stop caring about people. It means we stop making ourselves responsible for what God is doing in someone else's life. We can love them, pray for them, encourage them, and rejoice with them without constantly measuring their circumstances against our own.

Jesus did not tell Peter to figure out what the other disciple's life would look like. He told him to follow Him. That is still where our attention belongs.

There will always be someone with more, someone with less, someone whose circumstances look easier, and someone whose path looks completely different from ours. If we allow ourselves to keep looking sideways, we can miss what is right in front of us. We can become so concerned with another person's life that we lose sight of Jesus.

I know how easy that can be. Sometimes I have had to recognize that I was paying too much attention to what was happening around me instead of simply following where the Lord was leading me. Comparison can make us question things we never questioned before, and if we allow it to continue, it can quietly affect our faith.

But Jesus' words bring us back: "What is that to thee? follow thou me."

I do not need to know why someone else's life looks different from mine. I do not need to understand every blessing someone else receives or every difficulty I am asked to walk through. My responsibility is to keep my eyes on Jesus and be faithful with what He has placed before me. When I find myself looking too much at someone else's path, I need to look back toward Christ.

Stop measuring your journey against someone else's—
Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus and follow Him.

Before You Go

If you have been looking around lately and wondering why someone else's life seems so different from yours, you are not alone. Comparison can quietly take our eyes off what God is doing in our own lives and leave us carrying questions He never asked us to answer.

There is freedom in remembering that Jesus has not asked us to follow someone else's path. He has asked us to follow Him.

Hebrews 12:2 tells us to be "Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith." That is where our eyes belong. Not constantly looking to the side, wondering who is ahead of us, who has more than we do, or why someone else's life seems easier.

Look to Jesus.

Your circumstances may not change today. Someone else's life may still look better than yours, and you may not understand why God has allowed certain things in your life. But you can still follow Him right where you are.

You do not have to compete with another believer. You do not have to measure your faithfulness by someone else's blessings. Keep your eyes on Jesus, take the next step He puts before you, and let Him take care of the path that belongs to someone else.