Proverbs 4:25-27 says, “Set your gaze on the path before you. With fixed purpose, looking straight ahead, ignore life’s distractions. Watch where you’re going! Stick to the path of truth, and the road will be safe and smooth before you. Don’t allow yourself to be sidetracked for even a moment or take the detour that leads to darkness.”
I heard someone speaking recently about owning our decisions and being comfortable with where we are. The analogy that he gave was that of a person standing in a queue (or line if you will) waiting to checkout in a store. It can be any store with multiple lines, if you like Starbucks, imagine that. Now as you wait, it appears that the line next to you is moving faster than the one you are in and so you move across. Which one of the following people are you:
- If the line you left starts to move faster, you want to quickly switch back;
- It would be frustrating for you and may even make you a little angry if the line you left moved faster and the people who were once behind you are served before you reach the front of the line you are now in; or
- It does not matter either way. You have now committed to this line, and it will take however long it takes to get to the front and that’s ok?
We have all lined up somewhere and have had any one of the above reactions at some point. But the point of the analogy was to show how as humans sometimes we question our decisions based on what is happening around us. We compare what is happening in our lives, in our line, with what is happening in someone else’s line. We feel like we made the wrong decision if someone else seems to have success in a place we left. Or we feel validated when someone else fails in a place we felt to leave.
The downside of comparison is that what God tells you to do may differ from what God tells someone else to do. God may ask you to leave one line and join another not because it is particularly going to be easy for you in that line or that you will get immediate results in that line but because He knows what lies ahead for you. Now “line” may be representative of a season of life, a relationship, a job, whatever it may be.
God is in the business of directing our steps. So, if God directs you to step into a line, and people in the line you left appear to be doing well, it does not mean you have heard incorrectly. Likewise, if God directs you to stay in a line when everyone else is leaving the line, and it appears they are doing better out there, it does not mean you get to leave.
Just because it is difficult or uncomfortable does not mean it is not God. Just because someone else who made a different decision is succeeding does not mean they heard from God. Just because they failed also does not mean they did not hear from God. We need to learn to mind our line and mind our business. We do not know what journey God is taking them on. What may look like failure to us may be a set up for God to do the miraculous in their life. We do not know. So the best we can do is to stop comparing and learn to be content with where God has us and trust Him there.
2 Corinthians 10:12 says this about comparison, “Of course, we wouldn’t dare to put ourselves in the same class or compare ourselves with those who rate themselves so highly. They compare themselves to one another and make up their own standards to measure themselves by, and then they judge themselves by their own standards. What self-delusion!”
It is self-delusion to begin to compare ourselves with others. So what then should we do? As we enter into 2026, let us be determined to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. Hebrews 12:2 says this, “We look away from the natural realm and we focus our attention and expectation onto Jesus who birthed faith within us and who leads us forward into faith’s perfection. His example is this: Because his heart was focused on the joy of knowing that you would be his, he endured the agony of the cross and conquered its humiliation, and now sits exalted at the right hand of the throne of God!”
It may be uncomfortable when God directs us to stay in a place we want to leave or leave a season we would rather stay in, but we know there is always joy on the other side of our obedience. As we move through 2026, we keep our hope securely fastened on Jesus because Romans 10:11 reminds us that, “…Everyone who believes in him will never be disappointed.” Stop comparing. Keep your eyes on Jesus and stay in your line.
Love and blessings,
Melissa Tsingano
Heavenly Whispers Blog 
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