Comparison Can Lead to Materialism
It isn’t uncommon for us to “count our blessings” by comparing how much more material goods we have than others. We may even think this is a spiritually mature practice. We believe this creates gratitude in our hearts by comparing our relative wealth to the relative poverty of others. However, this is actually fostering materialism in our hearts by considering material wealth to be a sign of how “blessed” we are. Jesus does not encourage the wealthy to see themselves as comparatively blessed. In fact, he turns conventional wisdom on its head, creating a whole new way to count your blessings. (Scripture: Luke 6:20-26)