Grass is Greener

Halfway down our street, I pointed out a neighbor’s yard to my wife: “See, at least our lawn isn’t that bad.”

Our grass was suffering through a recent dry spell without the benefit of a functioning sprinkler system. That was my attempt to feel better about not doing more to care for our lawn.

“But what about that one over there? Or that one?” my wife replied. “They have nicer yards than we do. Why can’t we have grass like that?”

I came up with excuses.

“Well, they have a lawn service that comes every week. And didn’t they re-sod in the spring? Of course their grass looks nice.”

The fact of the matter is, I don’t want to compare my yard to the lush, green ones—I want to hold it up against those that are worse off so that mine doesn’t seem so bad.

That is what happens when I try to compare my walk with the Lord to those of others. I only seek out people and situations that make me feel good about where I am and gloss over the areas where I struggle.

Yet, it really doesn’t matter how I compare to anyone else—if I look hard enough, there will always be someone or something that reflects well of me. And God does something completely different. He looks at me through the lens of Christ—forgiven and redeemed.

What matters is what Christ did on the cross, and there is nothing I can do that hasn’t already been done for me.