Jealous or Grateful this Christmas?

Hey, I thought I'd start today's show with a quote from Pastor Steven Furtick. He's the pastor of Elevation Church. You might have seen him online. Really passionate pastor. But he said this.He said the reason we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our behind the scenes with everyone else's highlight reel. I'll tell you what, Stephen, home run on that one. Dude, I agree with you 100%. Which leads me to today's listener question.Ralph, I love seeing family and friends during the holidays, but it's hard not to compare what I have to what others do. And here's the big part of their question, Ralph. How can I stay content and not feel like I'm falling behind? What a great question today.And here's where I want to start. That, with comparison steals the joy that God meant for you. I want you to hear that. I want you to embrace that right now.Because the moment you measure your blessing against someone else's, you're forgetting something big. You're forgetting who gave them to you in the first place. So let's talk about staying content during the holidays. On today's show.This is Financially Confident Christian, your daily dose of gospel, grounded insight and faith driven tips to help you break the cycle of financial shame with confidence. Welcome to the show. I'm Ralph.I'm so happy you chose to join me today as we continue our series of finding joy without going broke during the holiday season.My goal every day on the show, and I hope I'm meeting that goal for you, is helping you break that cycle of financial shame and do it with confidence. Listen, I've been coaching families for years more than I want to admit.And during that time I've seen how comparison just completely drains gratitude and it leaves people empty. But I've also seen how you can replace that with peace and it just completely removes that pressure.And listen, I'm faced with the same temptations that you are. So easy to look at what others have. Social media allows us to do that. I want to get on a rant, but I might a little bit later in the show.But we're constantly looking at what other people have. We forget to thank God for what we've already got ready in front of us. And I'll never forget one Christmas. I'll never forget this.It was late in the night at Christmas time. My wife and I, we are both worn out. We're just sitting on the couch, just kind of what they call the doom scrolling on our phones.And I'm looking through Social media. I call it social media, like the highlight reel. And I'm looking at, oh, look at Tay dad going on. Look at these people hanging on.And I started having this feeling like everyone else had it better than me. I was really leaning into that. I was like, man, look what they got. Look at that beautiful new home. Wow, look at this. They got family.They're traveling. My wife said, what is wrong with you? And she nudged me over to the side and she says she reminded me of this. She said, ralph, what?You can't see the debt behind their decorations. And they'll tell you, right? That line stuck with me because I could see the decorations, I could see all the trimmings.I could see all the beautiful lights on the Christmas tree. But what I couldn't see is the debt behind that, the stress behind that, the anxiety behind that.And I love what former President Theodore Roosevelt said. He said it best. He said, comparison is the thief of joy, and it truly is. So today's question is this. How do I battle comparison this Christmas?Man, we got to understand this. First thing I want you to recognize is comparison kills gratitude. Let's say something bold here.When you look sideways, you stop looking upward, and the answer's upward, isn't it? Because thankfulness dies when comparison lives. It's all about that mindset. Are you looking to the side? Are you looking upward?And now I'm going to get on my. My soapbox a little bit. Social media lies to us. Social media posts people's highlight reel. It's like the top thing.Here's all the great things that happen. But what it doesn't post is their hardship. It doesn't show you when that credit card bill comes in January.It doesn't show you when they're still paying that credit card in June next summer. It shows you the highlights. Oh, look at all this fancy stuff. Look at the cool. The decorations, and look at the vacation we're on.It's that perfect photo. But what you're not seeing is that deep struggle.You're not seeing relationships that are severed or that are breaking apart because of financial stress. And. And here's the sinister part. And I don't want to rant about social media too long, but, man, it makes us feel less than, doesn't it?We look around and we're like, oh, man, I wish I had that. Pay attention to where your social media is. And we got to focus on the eternal. See, it's so easy to focus on those gifts.What's under the tree, what we Open up. But gifts are going to fade. You're not going to remember gifts years from now. But what you will remember is relationships, that faith.That faith will last forever. So focus right now on what really matters. Well, how do you do that? One of the ways you can do that is to practice gratitude.I know I say that on the show all the time, but listen, I'm a true believer in this. Write down five blessings each morning. Listen, before you even get out of bed, I started to do this. List five things you're grateful for.Start your day with gratefulness. Because, listen, you should be grateful. You should be grateful that you have the ability to get out of bed. Like, you're not in a coma.You're not suffering some major illness. And maybe you are. Maybe right now you're in a battle. So many of us are in battles. But guess what? You're still loved by the creator of the world.And he still got his hands out to grab you and take hold of you. And finally, we can find joy through contentment.See, the more you appreciate what you have, and I need to say this to myself sometimes, the more you appreciate what you have, the less you crave what you don't have. Appreciate what you have. Let's get to our Bible verses today. Again. I got two of them. First, one comes from the book of Galatians, chapter 6, verse 4.And it says this. Each one should test their own actions, that they can take pride in themselves alone without comparing themselves to someone else.Listen, what is it saying there's comparison is a thief of joy. The Bible saying it to us. Test your own actions. Take pride in yourselves. Stop comparing yourself to someone else.It's just making you live in constant anxiety. It's making you feel discontented. Listen, it's not their race that you're running. It's your race. Let's get to our second Bible verse.That's Philippians, chapter 4, verse 12. It says, I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I've learned the secret of being content in any and every situation.I want to give you a little context here, because you need to understand this. That's Paul writing that from prison. From prison. He knows what it needs to be in need. And I know it has that plenty.I've learned the secret of being content in any and every situation. Man. That is the secret sauce to the whole thing. How about we pray together? And, Lord, we come to you right now? We want to understand contentment.We want to be grateful for the things you've given us, Lord. We don't want to constantly live in that comparison trap. So, Lord, I. Help me to stop comparing my life to other people.Let me understand that that's their race, and you've given me a different race, Lord.Teach me to see the blessings that you've already given me, all the beautiful, abundant things you've already given me, Lord, and help me to grow my joy through gratitude and contentment, not comparison and jealousy and envy. And I ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen. All right, so you ready for your one action item today? I'm going to get back on social media for a second.I want you to take what I'm going to call a comparison fast this week. You're like, what are you talking about, Ralph?I want you to skip social media for 24 hours, and instead of scrolling, just sit there and write down 10 blessings that you already have. We'll call it the social media fast. What we're really doing is we're leaning into contentment and we're leaning into gratitude.And while we're talking about gratitude, I want to ask you for a favor. If this episode, if this show has helped you, if you're learning from it, it would be great if you could leave a review for the show.More people will come to us when they see, oh, Ralph's talking to people. People are understanding, People are growing, and I've made it super simple to do that.If you go to financiallyconfidentchristian.com/review, again, that's financiallyconfidentchristian.com/Review. You can leave us feedback right there because your feedback helps the message reach more people. And that's what I want to do.I want to bring more hope. I want to bring more joy and contentment and gratitude to people. Your feedback can help us do that.So again, it's at financiallyconfidentchristian.com/review. I'm really trying to grow reviews. If you listen to other podcast players, you can do it there as well.But I would really love it if you would do that. And here's what I want you to take away today. Gratitude and comparison can't live in the same heart. I'm sorry to tell you that it can't happen.You can't live in both ways. Your heart will break. And so many of you listening right now have a broken heart because you're trying to do that and it doesn't work.And see, remember this, joy isn't about having more. A lot of people say, well, Ralph, I'd be more joyous if I had more stuff. It's about seeing what's already yours.And listen, if you're listening to me, if you're watching me right now, you have so much. And peace can begin the moment you stop keeping score. We're not intended to keep score. I hope that reached you today.So today, I want to encourage you to go out there and be a financially confident Christian. You have the ability to do that. You have a lord that loves you and he wants to help you.He wants you to break that cycle of financial shame and live in confidence. So stay financially savvy. God bless you, and I hope you have a great day today.