II Corinthians 10:12 For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise
Remember when you graduated from junior high and you were the big fish in the pond? You were the oldest kid in the classes. You knew more, had more experience, and little kids looked up to you. Then, you graduated from junior high and you were in high school. All of a sudden you were at the bottom of the barrel. It might have been a bad feeling. Then, after several years you had reached the zenith; you were at the top of the food chain again. Everyone admired you as a senior in high school. Then, you graduated and went to work or college where again you were just a beginner or a freshman. You were a newbie at the bottom of the barrel.
Some people have continued this. They get a master’s or a doctorate degree. Then, once they graduate with their doctorate, they find that there are a number of their peers that form little communities where some people rise to the top and others are not so prominent. What this shows us is just how relative it is to relate ourselves to others. It is not an absolute measurement of what we are, what God has created us to be. It is foolish to compare ourselves to other people.
In II Corinthians 10:12 the apostle Paul warns, “For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.” Now, “are not wise” is a passive, almost diplomatic way of saying that someone is actively foolish, which is indeed what he says elsewhere in this passage. He was talking to people who had been impressed by those who were imposing themselves on others, who vaunted themselves, thought much of themselves, and wanted Paul to do the same. Paul said, “I’m not going to compare myself with others that commend themselves. Measuring and comparing ourselves to each other is not wise.”
He goes on to say, “But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. For not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth.” You are always going to be able to find someone who is better in some way than you, and you are always going to be able to find someone who is inferior to you in some way. It is really a dangerous thing to measure yourself by other people because they are not the standard by which God judges you. God judges you by what He has given you and by how obedient you are with what He has given you. In any endeavor you find today, there is going to be a temptation to look at others and say, “How do I compare to them?” That is foolish. The way to victory and success is to look at yourself and say, “What has God given me to do?”