Episode Eighteen: The Silent Sin

Hello everybody. We hope y'all had a good Mother's Day! Today's episode is about comparison, and how it can be bad for you. We hope you enjoy!

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Welcome to the Purpose Podcast. I'm your host, Gabe. And I'm your co-host, Josh. And today is May 7th. You guys are going to be seeing this episode on May 11th. So hope you had a good weekend.

SPEAKER_00 0:20

We ain't quite there, so hope all you mothers had a nice Mother's Day.

SPEAKER_01 0:25

Yes. Um day's episode is called The Silent Sin. And you may be wondering what's the silent sin? It's comparison. But basically, not not all comparison is bad. Not all comparisons is a sin. But if it turns into jealousy, like envy. Yeah. And one of the places that we see a lot of comparison is in sports. In sports, athletes are constantly comparing themselves to rivals, teammates, highlights they see on social media, former players, former successes. So when I say comparison to sports, are there any examples you automatically think about? Like the sports that you play? Yeah, like is there like any comparisons that you can think of?

SPEAKER_00 1:40

Yeah. I'm not good at football, but I like football. I'm always like, man, I wish I could run out there on that field like that. Same thing with baseball. I ain't good at baseball, but I watch baseball sometimes and I'm like, man, I wish I could hit the ball like that.

SPEAKER_01 2:00

Well, I I just get out of breath. I'm just out of shape.

SPEAKER_00 2:06

I was out of shape whenever I was in school, so I mean the fitness pacer test hated to see me coming.

SPEAKER_01 2:15

Yeah, and now they're bringing back their presidential fitness test.

SPEAKER_00 2:19

So thank goodness we're out of high school.

SPEAKER_01 2:22

Yeah, for real. I'm out of gym class, period. My last gym, my last, my last gym class was online, so I mean.

SPEAKER_00 2:33

I wish that was the case for mine. Mine was in person and I had an 80 because I didn't kick the ball and kickball. But we forgive and forget, we pray for the coach and we see things happening. Answers being prayer or prayers being answered.

SPEAKER_01 2:52

The comparison I thought of was Michael Jordan and LeBron James. People are always comparing which one is the greatest of all time. So when they when they're having these conversations, they're comparing like titles and eras and stats, pretty much anything that you can think of. But at the end of the day, they're two of the greats. You can't really compare them two different errors. They didn't play in the same time. So how can you compare them? But Michael is the best, but we're not going to touch on that subject. Comparison can either push athletes for improvement, or they can destroy their confidence if they let it control them. So are you trying to get better? Are you or are you just trying to be better than somebody else? Comparison starts early on. Players are constantly comparing offers and time, time of uh playtime, attention, followers, coach recognition, popularity, but a lot of times it seems as they only care about their image instead of their greatness. It steals the joy out of their passion. Instead of continuously improving every day, they're focused on someone else's journey. But they there are healthy and unhealthy comparisons. Unhealthy comparisons would be sayings like why am I not them? While healthy ones would be like, How can I learn from them? When comparisons turns into jealousy or envy, that's when it turns into sin. Not everyone's made to be a top scorer or a top athlete. Championship teams need role models, grinders, encouragers, which all combined become leaders. And to tie the sports up, uh scripture I got was from Galatians 6 4 to let each one test his own work and then his reason to boast for being himself alone and not in his neighbor.

SPEAKER_00 5:19

That was a good first.

SPEAKER_01 5:37

It was just like a it was a mic drop. I'm just kidding.

SPEAKER_00 5:45

Um, you know, another um area in life that we compare about to other people is success. Um you know, success is one of those things that um everybody wants. Everybody wants to be successful at something because when you're successful at something, it makes you feel good. And it looks good too. It looks good to people, it looks good on applications, um, it looks good and it feels good. And you know, you can be successful in sports, you can be successful in school, businesses, cooking, finances. Um, you can be successful in anything, but um the interesting thing is that success doesn't look the same for everybody, and that's because God made us, God made all of us differently. And the funny example that I'm I'm gonna use is in the movie Monsters University. Um, if you've ever watched it, you know, Sully, he was naturally successful at scaring. Um Mike Wazowski, on the other hand, he wasn't good at scaring, but he was successful academically. And um, they were in the same place, they were at the same time, and they was working towards the same goal, but their strengths were completely different. And that's kind of how God designed us. You know, he equipped each of us with different gifts and abilities, and something I may be good at, Gabe might not be good at, and something Gabe's good at, I might not be good at. And we were all made in God's image, and he created each of us with a purpose. And I think where people struggle the most is when they compare somebody else's success to their own journey. Um, you know, social media, um, it makes it easy to think that you're behind because someone else is succeeding in a different area or at a different pace than you. But just because somebody's winning in one thing doesn't mean that you're failing in yours.

SPEAKER_01 8:01

I I agree. Um like a lot of time, even you can even see successes in sports, and you can see how athletes could possibly be jealous of somebody else's successes, like how many rings they've won, um how many MVP titles maybe maybe somebody's won. And it's all it's all about how the work you put in, your skills, what you're best at. You're not always gonna be the top person. So that's that's why compare you don't need to be comparing yourself to the others in an unhealthy way. So what was another what was another part of comparison do you find Josh?

SPEAKER_00 9:07

Um social media. Um that's a good example of how people compare themselves to each other is through social media. And um, if you go back to the origin of social media, it was originally created with good intentions, it was meant to help people stay connected with their family and friends. But over the years, people they've turned it into a place where they compare themselves to others and where many use it as a way to boast about themselves. And um the Bible says in the book of Proverbs, chapter 27, verse 1, do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth. And it also says in the um Galatians chapter 5, verse 26, let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. God created each of us intentionally, he made you the way he wanted you to be. And so when you constantly compare yourself to people on social media, you start creating a thought standard for your life. And the reality is most people that you compare yourself to, they're struggle, they're struggling with things that you never see. Example, being the guy that posts a new car and going to the bar every weekend, he's actually drowning in debt. And the girl posting the perfect gym body and her luxurious lifestyle, um, she's struggling with insecurities and problems at the house. And we compare ourselves to people whose full story we don't even know. And when God already made us unique for a purpose, you may not flourish in the same way somebody else does, but God still has a way, he still has a purpose, and he still has a plan for your life. So just learn to enjoy who God created you to be. You know, you don't have to be who this person on social media is trying to be. You know, that's them, let them be them, but you be the man or the woman of God that God created you to be.

SPEAKER_01 11:33

I agree, Josh. Um social media, there's a lot of good to it, but there's also a lot of bad to it. I do feel like comparison you can be see a lot in social media because we see how other people live. We see, you know, we see an image that they put on. So that you think that man, that their life is like perfect, you know. Why why ain't our life like that? But in reality, they're just showing you the bit the best parts, they're not they're not showing you what they're going through, they're not showing their hardships, they're they're just showing you the shell, not what's inside. Right. And we talked about sports, we talked about successes, we talked about social media. Now let's talk about relationships. And this this also can go back to social media too on with this one. People compare the relationship to couples online, people see that some friends they might seem perfect, you see people getting engaged, we see people having kids, we see couples that seem happier than they really are. So are you building your relationship or are you judging it by someone else's highlight reel? Like Josh said, social media creates fake standards. People compare gifts, proposals, dates, vacations, perfect post anniversaries, but they don't see behind the scenes arguments or healing or hard conversations or sacrifices. You might think, why don't we have that? instead of relationship God giving. Everyone has a different season. Some could come some couples are building trust, some are healing, some are dating, some are preparing for marriage, some are learning patience with each other, but when overlooking relationships, you'll miss out on honesty, loyalty, peace, efforts, and growth. Strong relationships might seem boring to others, but that's because they've been through all the hardships already. They have built good they have built good communication, consistency, commitment, and respect. Love isn't about keeping up with other couples. It's about being faithful, honest, patient, and committed to the relationship God has given you. And the verse I got for this one was 1 Corinthians 13 4. Love is patient and kind, but love does not envy or boast, is not arrogant or rude.

SPEAKER_00 14:12

Yeah, I think a lot of people compare relationships. Um you know, most of the time what what you see is a cover, you know. Every now and then it might be what you're seeing, but most of the time it is a cover, especially when you see it on so something like social media and all seeing the full background, you're not seeing the full story. So you're seeing, you know, this nice couple or this nice friend group, um, this nice family, but you know, deep down, you know, that that nice couple, you know, they have their issues. That nice family, they have their issues, but um the friend group, they have their issues. Um and I I know that some people have their own issues too, but it's completely different. And um I think a lot of people compare relationships based off what they see, even though they don't know the backstory, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 15:30

Well, you know, me and Anthony, we always see other couples online going out doing stuff. This and that, this and that, this and that, you know. But we're just we're two simple people. We we don't mind going and getting something quick, eating it, and then going back to their house and watching a show or watching a movie. A lot of weekends that's put it that's all it is. But I mean we don't make us happy with each other, we don't have to just go out and just do big extra things, you know. That sounds like it should be. But we know if we see a lot of people all they all they do is go out and do do do do and part of me even thinks like you know, do they really have hard communications? I mean or do they they hide it by going out doing things? Or do they hide their hardships by posting? You know, that that's just the way I see it. And I can't say much on the hard conversations part because we are I am learning that right now. We we have we we have we have sort of learning those better than what we used to. Yeah. But a lot of times when when people post about the relationship, it's not always cracked up what's what it really is. But on that note, that's gonna be it in the podcast. Um go follow us on TikTok, Instagram. If you're on YouTube, go follow us on Apple Podcasts. If you're on Apple Podcasts, make sure to go like and subscribe on YouTube. Hope y'all had a good Mother's Day. And remember, keep sick in your purpose.