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Well everybody, welcome to Prairie Lakes Church this weekend. I'm delighted that you are here and good job making church a part of your week. Now, if you miss last week at Prairie Lake Church, you missed some big news.

'cause across all of our campuses we had 40 people get baptized. Amen. Yeah. Really, really cool stuff. And uh, if you've not seen the pictures on Facebook, get on Facebook and scroll through the pictures 'cause it'll give you a really good snapshot of what God's doing around Prairie Lake Church.

And we praise God for that. Alright, let's dive on in this weekend. This is week two of a series called Scrolling. And last week we talked about consumption. This week we're talking about comparison. Next week we're talking about disconnection.

And some of you're like, what is scrolling? What do we mean? We talk about scrolling? Well, scrolling is a time we spend on our phones, our tablets, computers, TVs, scrolling, swiping, watching, commenting, liking. That is what scrolling is. And some of you're like, Hey, why in the world would a church spend three weeks talking about it in the middle of summer?

Here's why We're talking about scrolling. Here's why this is an important topic. It's something we spend hours doing every single day. In fact, uh, estimates are between 20 and 30% of our lives now are spent scrolling in front of a device.

It'd be weird if we didn't talk about something like scrolling. And with scrolling, here's what we know. The, the more you scroll and the higher people scroll, spend time on social media. It's got detrimental impact in our society, in our communities today.

We've got increased anxiety. We've got disorders that are developing addictions to technology. And our phones. Our phones have become inseparable from us. We've got a strange relationship with our devices and there's actually this panic sometimes when our phone is not with us.

If you've experienced that before, you kinda like panic when you don't know where your phone is. And phones scrolling. Social media often gets between us and our other relationships in our lives.

And Pastor John said it really well last week. He said, phones are the last thing we touch before we go to bed, and the first things we touch when we wake up. And he encouraged us not to have our phones near us where we sleep.

And so talking about scrolling is really, really important, especially if you've got kids or grandkids. 'cause scrolling disproportionately affects younger generations of people. So this topic is really, really important. Now, we're gonna look at a topic this weekend of comparison.

Comparison. How scrolling through social media and our phones and our computers or tablets often causes us to compare ourselves to others either favorably or unfavorably. And here's the thing, the Bible has a lot to say about this. You know, we may think that a culture like that without social media where people didn't travel far from home, they didn't have to deal with comparison, but they absolutely did.

And the Bible says a lot about comparison. And so we're gonna look at what the, the Bible says about comparison today. And here's where I wanna start. I'm gonna start in this place. True and honest. Okay?

When you are scrolling and you're seeing other people on social media, you aren't seeing the real them. You're seeing a well curated version of their lives. You're seeing their greatest hits when you're scrolling. That's what you're generally seeing, hours a day, the greatest hits of other people's lives.

And it can skew your perception of their lives and your perception of your own life. What I mean by that is this, rarely do people post about their failures, their sins or their flaws if they did, sometimes it's usually like the, I'm fishing for a compliment post where I'm talking about how I don't look good.

And then all these people hop on and comment on how good you actually do look right? But besides that, we usually don't post negative things on our socials. Could you imagine if we did though, if the husband who got in a, a fight with his wife in an argument, post a selfie of him on the couch in the basement, letting everybody know they had an argument.

Again, if the parent were to post a picture of the police documents and the court finds from their daughter's minor in possession charge last weekend, if the person posted the feet pick on the scale with their actual weight, letting everybody know they gained 12 pounds over the holidays, imagine what social media would be like if that were the case.

But we know it isn't. Right? By and large, when you're scrolling, you're seeing mostly good stuff that people want you to see. So you get this skewed version of their reality and your own. And listen, I've been a pastor for 20 years and I can't say the number of times I've seen what people post.

And as a pastor, I know a lot of secrets. So I, I know what life is really like with families. And oftentimes what people post is 180 degrees from what their life is really like. And despite the fact that we kind of know this, we know that we see people's greatest hits when we scroll.

We do it all the time. And often at leads to comparison, we, we compare ourselves to others either positively or negatively. And oftentimes we compare ourselves and how we look to how other people look. We say things like this, she looks amazing, or he's let himself go and that new hairstyle isn't doing him any favors.

Or I can't believe she posted a picture of herself in a swimsuit. That skimpy, we compare our stuff to other people's, stuff like that is a sweet truck and it makes my car look pretty crummy. Or man, it'd be amazing to have a, a new house like so and so, or they live in that.

I mean, they must be struggling financially. And we compare our relationships to other people's relationships, don't we? We say things like this, they look so happy. I wish my marriage was that fulfilling and that close. Or I wish my family could take a photo that looked normal at least once at some point.

Or their kids seem perfect. I mean, they're well behaved, they're good academically, they're great at sports. I, I just wish my kids could figure it out. And we compare our experiences to others like that European vacation that your neighbors took and they're posting all about makes your trip to Okoboji look pretty, pretty weak or their family's always having fun and it just makes my family feel like we're, we're pretty boring.

And we often compare our moral character to others. And usually it's favorable, right? Like usually it's like, oh, her relationship status is single now. And can you believe that he cheated? Can you believe that they're divorced or I would never go out.

And something like she's wearing or she's posting about, we spend hours every single day scrolling and comparing to others. And for the most part, we're even unaware that we're doing it and we're usually unaware of the impact and the harm it has on our minds and our relationships and our souls.

And so you may be saying like, well, a little comparison isn't that big a deal, right? Well, it is a big deal and, and here's why. Here's why it's a big deal comparison that is a favorable to others is often driven by pride and comparison that is negative to others, is often driven by jealousy.

And neither one of those is good pride, envy, jealousy. Neither one of those are good things. See, pride drives our favorable comparisons to others when we think we actually look better, when we think that our relationships are better. And this happens all the time, whether we know it or not, we actually desire to post on social media things that we know will cause others to think more highly of us or be jealous of us or cause discontent in their lives.

And that's called pride. When we post for that reason, that's called pride and it's not a virtue. Here's a few things the Bible says about pride. In Proverbs 1618, king Solomon wrote these words. He said, pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.

If you are being prideful or arrogant, if you're favorably comparing yourselves to others around you constantly, the Bible calls that pride. And Solomon says, Hey, that comes before a fall. If your life is marked by pride, he's saying, look out because you're about to stumble and fall.

And then there's this verse here in the New Testament, one John two 16. John says, for everything in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life comes not from the Father but from the world. Pride he says is not from God, it's from the world, it's from the enemy.

It is not a virtue. Comparing yourself favorably to others is pride and arrogance and that's not good. And then envy and jealousy often drives our unfavorable comparisons to others when we want what we don't have, when we feel inferior to others, when we long for the lives that other people have.

That's called envy or jealousy. And I wanna look at a couple verses that talk about envy or jealousy. The the first is from the 10 Commandments. Well the first commandments that God gave to his people Israel is this, you shall not covet your neighbor's house.

You shall not covet your neighbor's wife or his male or female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor. So do not covet your neighbor's ox or donkey. Okay everybody. But the point is this, don't desire someone else's life.

Don't be jealous of what others have that you don't live your life, not someone else's life. And then here's this verse couple verses here from the New Testament in James. James says, but if you harbor bitter and envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth.

Such wisdom does not come from heaven, but is earthly unspiritual and demonic not good? And then he says, for where you have envy and selfish ambition there you'll find disorder in every evil practice. James says, listen, envy in our hearts, jealousy in our hearts wanting someone else's life leads to all different kinds of evil things in our lives.

Pride and envy are not good in comparison either favorable, driven by pride or unfavorable comparison to others driven by jealousy or envy or problems because they steal time and they steal our emotional energy. And they steal joy.

The person who's actively trying to impress others by their life and post amazing things about their life has an image to protect and keep up. And that's exhausting. But it's also exhausting to continu, to look at other people around you and scroll and want someone else's stuff or someone else's relationship or someone else's life.

Both of those are treadmills that go nowhere. Comparison also prevents us from living in the now the life that God has called us to live. Comparison is a thief driven by pride and envy. Now lest you think this is a new problem for us today in 2024 with social media and scrolling, it's not a new problem.

Comparison has been a problem. Envy and pride have been a problem since the dawn of time. And people in biblical times struggled with comparison and they struggled with pride in envy just like we do. In fact, the heroes of our faith struggle with pride and envy and comparison.

And I wanna show you a relationship in the Bible where this is pretty clear and uh, it's uh, the, the relationship between Peter and John, two disciples of Jesus, Peter and John. They were probably the, the most competitive, the most high leadership ceiling, the most aggressive of the disciples.

And when you got two young men in that position, it's a recipe for disaster and competition and stress. So Peter was the leader of the disciples. Anytime the disciples were mentioned, Peter's name is mentioned first he was the oldest, he was the leader.

Then you'll usually see after Peter, James and John listed and James and John were brothers. They were Galilee and fishermen and they were known as the Sons of Thunder, which is a cool nickname. Sounds like a wrestling duo, the Sons of Thunder.

And guess where they got that nickname? They were loud, they were brash, probably pretty arrogant people. And so John, one of these sons of thunder and Peter had some conflict. They had an interesting relationship.

We don't get a lot of pictures of their relationship, but we get a few. And so here's what I want you to do. I want you to open your Bibles to John chapter 20. We're gonna start in verse one. And here's the context of John 20.

When you, when you see Peter and John in their relationship. Uh, John 20 is the resurrection story, the story of the resurrection of Jesus. It's Easter Sunday morning. This is the most beautiful, powerful part of scripture. We read this on Easter and it is awesome.

And yet even in the midst of the greatest story in the Bible, there is comparison between Peter and John. So here's what I want you to see. Verse one, early in the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance.

And so she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said to him, they have taken the Lord outta the tomb and we don't know where they've put him. So, okay, okay, so John is writing these words and he wrote these words years, many years after this event took place.

So John is writing these words years later reflecting on what happened. And he doesn't say Simon Peter and I, he says the disciple Jesus loved, he says she came running to Simon Peter and the one Jesus loved, which is weird to not refer to yourself from the first person.

Now, when I was in high school, I had a driver ed instructor named Mr. Butler and he would always refer to himself as the third person. And it was so weird, he'd be, I'd be driving for driver's ed and he would say, Mr. Butler wants you to take a left turn. And I'd be like, why don't you just say I, this is so weird.

And John right here is saying, he's not saying his name, he's saying the disciple Jesus loved, which is kind of weird. And you wanna say, well John just being humble and he is just being, you know, he's not saying I, 'cause he didn't wanna put himself in the story even though he was there.

But what we see later on is that he's absolutely not being humble. Look at verse three. So Peter and the other disciples started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb.

First John includes in scripture, he wants to make a point. I was first, I was faster than Peter, I was more zealous than Peter. I got to the tomb first and then he continues, he bent over, he looked at the scripts of Lennon lying there, but he didn't go in.

Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. Like Peter showed up after me again. Second time he says I was faster, I was more zealous. Peter was the slow poke. And then it says this, he saw the strips of linen lying there as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus' head.

And the cloth cloth was lying in his place separate from the linen. And then finally verse, he finally, the other disciple who reached the tomb first went also inside. He saw and he believed. So again, three times, John says, I was faster than Peter, I was faster than Peter, I was faster than Peter.

And he includes the detail. Oh, by the way, when I walked in respectfully, I believed I didn't doubt like that Peter Guy, right? Like isn't it crazy that you see in the middle of the greatest story in the Bible, this comparison between John and Peter and John is writing favorably about himself.

I was faster, I was more zealous. And I believe John is like Uncle Rico from Napoleon Dynamite who can't let go of his high school football glory days. He just can't stop talking and thinking about how great he was when Jesus resurrected from the dead.

And it's crazy to me that right in the, the, the story and the pages of the greatest story in the history of the world, the resurrection of Jesus, there is a comparison that John is making between himself and Peter multiple times, which by the way is why I believe in the Bible.

The Bible is honest and it's raw and it's real that even in this incredible story, you have this comparison between these two disciples that were obviously competitive. Now I want you to flip forward to, to John 21 verse 17, because now the tables get turned and we see Peter comparing himself to John.

It's it's crazy. Verse 17 says, now, hold on just a sec. So the context where this passage is the resurrected Jesus is appearing to the disciples, to Peter and the other 10, and they're sharing a meal on the shores of the sea of Galilee.

And then in this beautiful moment, Jesus who'd been denied by Peter three times, abandoned by Peter in his moment of greatest need, he forgives Peter three times. And we're gonna look at the last forgiveness here in verse 17, the third time Jesus said to him, Simon, son of John, do you love me?

And Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, do you love me? And he said, Lord, you know all things, you know that I love you. So Jesus said, feed my sheep. For very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you dressed yourself and you went where you wanted.

But when you're old, you're gonna stretch out your hands and someone else is gonna dress you and lead you where you do not want to go. And Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. And then he said to Peter, follow me.

Like, what a beautiful moment. Right? Jesus forgives Peter, even though Peter denied Jesus multiple times and he gives him a mission. He says, feed my sheep, lead my disciples, lead the charge, make disciples, preach the good news.

I'm giving you all this authority. Peter, I forgive you and I love you. It is so powerful. But then right in the middle of this crazy cool story, look what happens in verse 20. So then Peter turned and he sees that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them.

This is the one who leaned back against Jesus at the last supper and said, Lord, who's gonna betray you? So again, again, John is identifying himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved. And he's saying, I was at the last supper and I was the disciple who leaned back and actually was concerned about the betrayal of Jesus.

I wanted to know who the betrayal was, but, but right in this moment of beauty and calling and forgiveness and reconciliation where Peter should be dancing and jumping for joy and going like, I got it, Jesus. Instead he looks back at John and he says, says, Hey, uh, uh oh, I skip forward actually to um, verse 21.

So it says this, then Peter saw him and he asked, Lord, what about, what about him? And Jesus answered, if I want him to remain alive until I return, what's that to you? You must follow me. So we get this crazy story of Peter being forgiven, reconciled, given this mission, and instead of being excited, he looks back at John and he says, Jesus, what about that guy?

What about his calling? What, what, what responsibility are you giving to him? Is it more than mine? Do, do I get to tell him what to do because I've been waiting to tell John what to do for three and a half years.

So tell me, I can tell him what to do and and how is he gonna die? Is he gonna be martyred like I'm gonna be martyred for the faith? And and, and Jesus just says, listen, listen. If I want him to stay alive, that's my business, Peter, live your life.

Don't compare your calling or your life or your gifts to anybody else's but me. Follow me. Pay attention to me. Even in this incredible moment, Peter couldn't help but compare himself to John and compare his life and his story and his calling and his death to what John Wood experience.

See, comparison is nothing new. It's been attention and a battle throughout human history. And even the heroes of the faith, Peter and John, guys that wrote books of scripture struggled with envy and pride. The only difference between 2000 years ago and today is that we have social media and strolling.

We have access to so much more people's lives and their greatest hits. We're so much more aware of the details of of people's lives and we've got so much opportunity and access to compare our lives to others. And the question today isn't whether we'll be tempted to compare our lives to others.

We will. The question isn't, are we gonna struggle with an envy and pride and jealousy? We will. The question that we're gonna spend the rest of our time answering today together is this, how do I avoid the comparison trap? How do I scroll differently if, if pride and envy that leads us to compare favorably or unfavorably?

If that's what we typically fall into and we have since the dawn of humanity, how do we scroll differently? How do we overcome the comparison trap? Here's the first thing I want encourage you to do, secure your identity in Jesus.

I'm gonna give you three things today and I'm gonna prescribe some things I want you to do. This is the first one. Secure your identity in Jesus. Here's a question I want you to reflect on right now. Who or what defines your value? Who or what defines your value? Just think about that.

Who whose opinion matters most to you right now? Is it the opinions of others? Is it your parents? Is it the quality of your marriage? Is it the success of your kids in school or sports? Is it your job success or your net worth? How much money you have or don't have?

Is it your appearance or the number on the scale or your fitness level? Here's what you need to know. Friends, when it comes to value and worth, if anything, anything other than if anything is more fundamental to your worth and your value than God and what he says about you, you will always be disappointed and you'll always be searching for external validation.

If you are not secure in your identity in who Jesus is and who he's made you, you'll always be looking outside of yourself for validation over and over again. And here's another truth right here. We compare the most either favorably or unfavorably when our value and worth are determined by anything other than who we are in Christ.

Listen, the people in my life that I know that don't compare a lot, that don't struggle with envy or pride very much are the people who are most secure in who they are in Christ. They know they are loved, they know they're secure, they know they don't have to find external validation through other people because they've already received divine validation from Jesus and it changes the way they scroll.

It absolutely does. You say, well, how do I secure my identity in Jesus? Listen, for some of you right now, I know that you're listening and you've never stepped over the faith line, you've never trusted in Jesus and and maybe you've been to church a lot in your life, maybe you believe in God kind of vaguely.

Maybe you can even quote me some Bible verses today, but you've never made the decision to say, Hey, I'm gonna confess and believe I'm gonna give my life to Jesus. Listen, if you're in that spot and you've never stepped over the faith line, that is your step today.

Because let me just tell you friend, until you take that step to trust in Jesus, you'll always be looking for affirmation and value and worth outside of yourself somewhere with people or things or relationships and stuff. And it's just never going to work until you surrender your life to Jesus.

You're always gonna be looking for external validation. And so if that's you finding security in your identity in Christ is taking a step to say, I'm gonna confess and believe for the first time in trust in Jesus. That may be your step today. But listen, I know a lot of us have already taken that step.

We've confessed and believe maybe it was years ago or decades ago, but here's what I know about walking the Christian life and living it out. We can drift. And even as Christians, sometimes we forget who we are in Christ and how secure we are.

And even then we sometimes look outside for validation and value and worth. And our job is to come back, come back, come back to who God says we are. So here's my prescription for you this week, and here's what I want you to do.

I don't want you to read the book of Ephesians on repeat in the New Testament, that book over and over and over again, especially the first three chapters. 'cause here's what you're gonna find in Ephesians. Here's what the Bible says about who you are in Christ. The Bible says this, you are blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

You're chosen by God. You're holy and blameless in God's sight. You've been adopted by God, you've been redeemed, you are forgiven, you've been included in God's family. You've been permanently sealed and saved by God and you have eternal life.

And that is just the first 14 verses of Ephesians chapter one. When you read Ephesians, here's the message that you will get through that book. A life that is secure in Jesus, doesn't need somebody else's life.

A life that is secure in Jesus. Doesn't need anybody else's life, doesn't need to compare, doesn't need to be jealous. Doesn't need to be prideful. A life that is secured in Jesus doesn't need somebody else's life.

That's number one, being secure in Christ. That's the thing that will help you scroll differently. That's the thing that will help you more than anything. Avoid comparison to other people and their lives. That's number one. Here's number two, practice gratitude. Say, how do I overcome the comparison trap and comparing my life to other people's?

It's practicing gratitude. You say, well, how does practicing gratitude help me overcome comparison? Here's the thing, when you spend your time thanking God for what you have and appreciating it, you'll spend less time focusing on what others have that you don't.

The Bible tells us to give thanks in all circumstances. The Bible says, sing songs with gratitude to God in your hearts. And whether you realize it or not, you have a lot, my friend, you are blessed. Most of us right now in this moment have wealth and possessions and relationships that most people in the world can only dream about.

We have a lot, we have a lot to be thankful for. So when I say be grateful and have gratitude and practice it, here's what I mean. Be grateful for the spouse you have. Even if your marriage isn't perfect and where you want it to be.

Be thankful for the kids that you have, even when they act like knuckleheads sometimes. Be thankful that your body works good most of the time, rather than the fact that you're not the size or the shape you wish you were. Be grateful that your salvation doesn't depend on your own goodness, but rest in Jesus practice saying thank you to God and others.

Often it changes the way that you think. It changes the way that you see relationships and it changes the way that you compare your life to others. And here's my prescription today, friends, here's what I want you to do practically. Keep a gratitude journal. Write it down.

It could be on a note, it could be on a mirror, it could be on your fridge, it could be in a notebook, it could be digitally. But here's what I want you to do. Start making lists of things that you are grateful for and start today.

And maybe you just add one thing each day or two things each day and you say, Hey, I'm grateful for my spouse or my kids. My job. I'm grateful that today was better than yesterday. I'm grateful that I'm gaining victory over anxiety or depression, whatever it is.

But write it down because when you see what you have and when you're grateful and thankful for what you have, you won't struggle to to desire things you don't. It's amazing what happens when you begin to be grateful for the things that you do have. And here's why gratitude works.

This right here, a heart that is full of gratitude, doesn't have room for pride or envy, a heart that's full of gratitude doesn't have room for pride or envy. When we are grateful people, it transforms the way that we think.

In the way that we see, we become very grateful for what we do have. And we don't desire what we don't. When our hearts are full of gratitude, we don't have room for pride or envy. That's number two. Here's the last thing I want you to do this week.

It's this. Serve others. Serve others. If you wanna scroll differently, if you're gonna stop comparing your life so much to the people around you, you need to serve inside and outside the walls of this church. Why? Why does serving help?

Why is it an antidote to comparison? When you focus on giving your time and energy to others and not just receiving from others, you stop comparing when. When your shift, when your focus shifts from what I want or what I'm not, what I don't have, and it moves to how can I bless, how can I serve, how can I give?

The focus comes off of you to meeting the needs of others. In Acts 2035, Jesus has recorded this, saying this, it's more blessed to give than to receive. And when you serve, you connect to the needs of others, the needs of others, not just the winds of others, not just the well curated life that you see on social media.

You start to connect with who people really are, not what they project. On TikTok and Instagram. You start to connect with the needs of others, the struggles and the hurt and the brokenness and the opportunity to bless.

And let me just say this, this weekend before you leave, if you're not serving, I want you to talk to your weekend host, your campus pastor, some leaders or volunteers at your campus and say, how can I get plugged in? How can I serve? How can I serve inside and outside the walls of our campus?

Because listen, God's doing amazing things. There's a ton of opportunities. I want you to jump into them because here's my prescription, here's what I want you to do. Spend some of the time you're currently spending scrolling each day or week serving others the time that you're sitting on your rumpus, just staring at your phone and mindlessly scrolling.

Spend some of that time serving people. Think about what you could do if you spent half the time you spend scrolling, doing things to serve other people and think how much your life and your mindset and your heart would be transformed by God if you did. And here's why this matters.

Lastly, a life that is full of service to God and others doesn't have margin for comparison. A life that is full of service to God and others doesn't have margin for comparison. So those are the three things I want to encourage you to do. Be secure in your identity in Jesus.

Take that step if you haven't remember it. If you have. Make sure that you're practicing gratitude and make sure that you are serving others. And here's why this works. I just wanna share a part of my story with you as we close. So in 2019, I hopped off Twitter. I know it's called X.

Now it's weird and dumb. I don't know why they do that. But anyways, I hopped off Twitter in 2019 'cause I couldn't take it. I was done. I was like, I don't wanna be a part of this anymore. Then in 2020, in June, I hopped off of Facebook.

I was just sick of the covid and the the election cycle and all the vitriol and like, I was like, I'm out. I can't do this anymore. So I don't have social media. And for me, that could be a reason to be prideful and be like, well, you know, I don't have social media. I'm not even a part of that. But here's what I've learned about me.

And this is probably true of you too. Um, I still struggle with comparison because here's what I've learned rather than just scrolling, here's what I do on social media. I'm not on social media. So here's how I scroll. I shop online for stuff that I don't even buy and and stuff honestly I can't even afford.

And then I go on YouTube and I go down these rabbit holes of YouTube videos and pretty soon I'm watching the video of a guy building a kayak out of wood. And I'm like, I can't do that. I will never do that. Why am I doing this?

And it's because, because if I don't fill my life and the time that I used to spend scrolling on social media with good things like God and gratitude and service, I'm just gonna find other ways to compare because that's where my heart goes if it's not steered correctly.

And so my encouragement to you this weekend is this. It's not just scroll less, although I think that would be a good step. It's replace the things, the good things that God wants you to have in your life more of replace those things with the time that you would spend scrolling time with God, securing your identity in him, practicing gratitude, serving others.

When you fill your life with those things, that's what takes your heart and your mind off of comparison. It's what prevents you from living out this life of envy and pride and honoring God. And it's actually honestly my friends, what helps you live the life God wants you to live your life, not somebody else's.

And it gives you the freedom of saying, I don't need to know what people are doing or what they have or how their relationship is. And I don't need to desire someone else's life or stuff. I can enjoy my own. That's the goal. So right now, as we close friends, I wanna pray, just invite God to help us do that right now.

So let's pray. Hey, God, we know it's so easy to compare ourselves and our lives to others. God, it's easy to be focused on what we don't have and who we aren't rather than the lives that you've given us. And so God, when we're tempted to compare ourselves favorably in pride or unfavorably and envy to others, God help us to realize that and take a step back.

Help us to scroll differently, to live differently, to replace the time and the energy that we spend in comparison to others, with you, with gratitude, and with serving. To live the life that you've given us to live today, to truly live.

So God help us to take a step with you today and this week it's in Jesus name that we all pray together. Amen.