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Welcome to the Daily Blade. The Word of God is described as the sword of the Spirit, the primary spiritual weapon in the Christians' armor against the forces of evil. Your hosts are Joby Martin and Kyle Thompson, and they stand ready to equip men for the fight. Let's sharpen up.

The Comparison Trap On Social

Comparison Fuels Pride Or Shame

Gratitude Cannot Share The Space

Fully Known And Fully Loved

Jesus’ Baptism And God’s Pleasure

Approval In Christ And Final Charge

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All right, welcome to day three of this week. As we continue in Galatians chapter 5, we're going to pick it up in verse 25. And the Bible says, if we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. I want to talk to you about one of the things that the enemy is just eating our lunch on. You see, what Paul says is that when we walk in the Spirit and we and we keep in step with the Spirit, then what we don't do is we don't spend any time comparing ourselves to one another. That we should not be conceited thinking that we're better than other people, and we should not live a life of envy thinking we're not as good as other folks. You see, this is the classic comparison trap, and comparison kills. And what's crazy is that we walk around every single day with these little comparison devices in our phone. When we get on social media and scroll, it is a comparison trap. Because the problem with comparison is that it's always a lose-lose situation. Sometimes you compare yourself to other people and you're filled with conceit. You think, well, look at how much better my life is than all of these other losers out there. Or most often, then we are filled with envy. And we think my life is not nearly as good as these folks that I'm looking at. And the problem is, and even though we know this in our brain, it's hard to feel this in our heart. You see, you are comparing what you know about yourself to what you don't know about other people. That you are comparing everybody else's filtered life with your unfiltered life. You're comparing their highlight reel to your B-roll. And I'm telling you, it leads to things that are not from the Father. It either leads to pride or condemnation. And the problem with comparison is that comparison robs you of experiencing the joy that Christ has for you. Because if he wanted you to have their life, he would give you their life. A big part of what comparison does is comparison is an affront against God. Because when we compare ourselves to other people, basically what we are saying is, God, you didn't get this right. God, you gave him too much and you did not give me enough. God, why are you allowing me to walk through the valley of the shadow of death and why are you giving them nothing but sunshine and rainbows? And by the way, comparison cannot simultaneously coexist with gratitude. It is impossible to simultaneously look at God and say, you didn't get this right, and look at God and say, Thank you so much for my life. You see, the reality is the reason that we don't have to compare is because Jesus does not compare you with anybody else. Jesus never looks at you and says, Why can't you be more like the Apostle Paul? Why can't you be more like the Apostle Peter? No, no, no, no, no. That Jesus wants you to live the life that He has marked out for you to live. And the reality of it is that Jesus fully knows you. And Jesus fully loves you. Do you realize what an astounding statement that is? To be fully known and not loved, that is our fear. But to be loved and not fully known, that is very shallow because people don't actually love you. They love some kind of fake veneer version of you, and a real Jesus died on the real cross for the real you. And so the reason that we don't have to compare is because God fully knows you and fully loves you. I talk about this all the time, but it's very powerful in my life. The moment I feel like I don't measure up, one of the places I go to in Scripture is when Jesus is baptized. Jesus walks out to the Jordan. John, his cousin, John the Baptizer, says, Behold the Lamb who's come to take away the sin of the entire world. And then Jesus has this conversation with John the Baptist about who's going to baptize who. And then eventually Jesus gets baptized. And the Bible says that the entire Trinity is there at the baptism of Jesus. And God the Father speaks out loud over God the Son, who has just been baptized, and God the Spirit descends like a dove from heaven to Jesus. And the words of the Father over God the Son are this: Behold my Son in whom I am well pleased. You see, the reality is Jesus had done nothing at this point to earn the love of the Father, but the Father fully knows the Son and places his full love upon the Son. And if you are in Christ, then because of what Christ has done on your behalf, you have been imputed with his righteousness, and the love of the Father has been fully placed upon you. So the reason that you don't have to compare yourself to anybody else is because the thing that you're actually seeking in your heart of hearts is the approval of your Creator, your Heavenly Father, and in Christ Jesus, you already have that approval. So do not allow the enemy to rob you by either conceit or envy through comparing yourself to one another. But receive the blessing of the Heavenly Father over your life and hear these words. If you are in Christ, God's word over you is behold my son, in whom I am well pleased.

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