Some of you may know that I enjoy a good mahjong game night with my family. I usually wind up with losing most mahjong games and have the lowest score, so I was quite pleased when I managed to win all the games this Sunday.
Upon further reflection, however, I came to the conclusion that this “win” wasn’t really a win. You see, that Sunday, I played against my youngest siblings, who aren’t as experienced in mahjong, and were therefore easier to beat. As great as it was to win, I realized it was not a real win, because I didn’t exactly have tough competition. The quality of a win depends on the skill of your opponents. If I played against my parents, I would definitely lose to them.
Likewise, the quality of a comparison depends on the things examined. We often compare ourselves or our “goodness” with others, and there will always be someone worse than us. There are entire social media accounts dedicated to the ridiculous things people do and post online. We can easily feel superior to others, thinking “I am better than ________ because I don’t do_______ ”.
However, the only one whose qualities and virtues we should be comparing ourselves to is God. When Isaiah saw a vision of God in His temple, his response was “Woe is me! For I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.” – Isaiah 6:5.
Like Isaiah, when we compare ourselves to God, we realize that we are ALL in various levels of “going to hell without God”, regardless of whether we are cereal eaters or serial killers. On a relative scale, we might be morally better than others, but the reality is that there is no one truly, 100% good, as it says in Romans 3:10 – “As it is written: “There is no one righteous, no, not one”.
That is why we need God.
He will not make us perfect on earth, but He helps us to get a little bit closer to His righteousness and perfection.
We are not perfect, but we have a God who is, and that makes all the difference.