"IMPROPER COMPARISONS"

Barney Colson was an elder for University City Church of Christ in Gainesville, Florida, for thirty-three years until his death in 1998. During World War II, at the age of twenty-one, Barney Colson was the captain of an amphibious ship in the South Pacific. His and three other ships had unloaded their cargo on an island in late afternoon one day. They backed away from the shore and dropped anchor as the sun was setting. An anchor watch was assigned to make sure the ships did not drift. Everyone else went to sleep. When morning came, all four ships were within sight of one another with about a quarter of a mile of separation for safety. When Colson questioned the sailor on anchor watch, the sailor pointed to each of the ships nearby. But then Colson asked him: "Where is the island?"

During the night with the limited light available on the dark ocean, the watch had been able to discern the nearby ships. He did not think they were drifting, because the other boats were nearby all night long. What he did not realize was that all four ships had drug their anchors in the tide and were drifting together. They drifted over twenty miles, so that the island was completely out of sight over the horizon the next morning.

By comparing themselves with one another instead of a fixed point such as the island, they were able to drift all night long while thinking they were securely anchored. When we, as humans, compare ourselves with one another, we are likely to be deceived into thinking we are doing well. If we are at least average, we think we are making progress, even though we may be drifting away from the standard. If we compare ourselves to an infidel or a hypocrites' message, even the lukewarm person will be deceived into smug self-satisfaction.

Paul warned against such comparisons. He said that "we dare not…compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise." (2 Cor. 10:12).