This is LAUNCH week for my new book, written with co-author Kate Motaung:

Influence: Building a Platform That Elevates Jesus (Not Me). 

This book is especially written for speakers, writers, and ministry leaders. If you know someone who serves in one of those ways, would you consider sharing this post with them?

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Influence Quiz

If you haven’t done so yet, I invite you to TAKE THE INFLUENCE QUIZ. This post is a follow up on QUESTION 5 in the quiz:

True/False: I sometimes fall into the trap of comparing myself with others who do what I do.

How often: 0 – 5 (0=never, 5=all the time)

Comparison Trap

There’s another book, written by a first time author like me, which released at exactly the same time mine did. Early on, I made it a regular habit of checking my book’s ranking on Amazon, and then checking her book’s rank. My heart would either soar with pride or deflate with jealousy, according to the side-by-side “book scores”.

After a month or so of this, I decided I needed to stop this ugly habit. Though I don’t know this other author, she was not my rival! And both the pride and the jealousy that my “comparison game” produced were sinful. So I made a commitment to stop, and I haven’t looked back.

Now, I invite you to make a prediction. By stopping my “book score” comparison habit, was I able to stop comparing altogether? What do you think?

The answer is no. Comparison is as natural as noticing that one book got an award, and mine didn’t. I’m not sure that I’ll ever be able to completely stop comparing myself with others. Interestingly, as Jesus conversed with people who were constantly comparing themselves with others, he never said, “Just stop it.” I’m not sure it’s possible to stop.

Instead, Jesus constantly told people to start doing something. Instead of measuring ourselves against each other, Jesus urges us to empty ourselves of status and serve each other. He tells us to put on a new mindset—the same one he had when he came to earth. Rather than trying to outdo one another or prove that we outrank them, we should humble ourselves and serve them (Phil. 2:3-7).

When we are preoccupied with putting others ahead of ourselves, we naturally stop trying to getting ahead. When we work to lift others up, we intuitively stop straining to lift ourselves up. When we bend down to serve other people, we inherently stop measuring ourselves against them.

As we step out on our platforms to lift Jesus high, we wouldn’t be the first influencers to unwittingly become trapped in the jealousy or pride that result from comparison. We need to continue to think carefully about this subject and guard against measuring ourselves against each other.

How have you been trapped by comparison? What ways have you found to free yourself from the “comparison trap”?

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Continuing the Conversation

If you’d like to keep talking about this topic of platform-building as Christians, we hope you’ll consider our new book, Influence: Building a Platform That Elevates Jesus (Not Me) either to read on your own or with your writers/ speakers / leadership group.

Check out correlating resources and podcast interviews here.

Receive this 4-part Influence Blog series (plus get free bonus materials!) here.