False sense of security
Of course we would not dare classify ourselves or compare ourselves with those who rate themselves so highly. How foolish they are! They make up their own standards to measure themselves by, and they judge themselves by their own standards! As for us, however, our boasting will not go beyond certain limits; it will stay within the limits of the work which God has set for us. 2 Corinthians 10:12-13
From the text, Paul did not rest his security upon superficial criteria as his speaking ability (see 2 Corinthians 11:6), or in how he stacked up in comparison with other people (2 Corinthians 10:12). He stayed committed to a sense of real security. “Whoever wants to boast must boast about what the Lord has done.” For it is when the Lord thinks well of us that we are really approved, and not when we think well of ourselves” (2 Corinthians 10:17, 18). The admonition is not to find security by comparing ourselves to others. When we start to compare ourselves with others, there is a temptation to begin to imagine the results already. Either you are prompted to feel superior and proud because your strengths outweigh his weaknesses. Or you will begin to feel threatened or inferior because you fail to measure up. When we strive to project a self-imposed standard of ourselves, we will miss knowing who we really are. Anyone who compares himself by others is without understanding. God has made each person different and has gifted each person differently. Comparison with others may be flattering, but it is false, and the fact that we do it demonstrates our blindness to reality. As we should not compare ourselves with others, or should we compare one person with another person and then decide which person has more functional value in God’s kingdom. Every person is so different from every other person that each person has a different set of fingerprints. No two people have the same. This is why Paul said that the measure is on how faithful we are to “work which God has set for us.” Each Christian is to recognize the gifts that God has given us and to be satisfied and content working in those gifts without claiming that we can do more than what you and I is presently doing or should be doing. So we are not to evaluate our superiority or inferiority by what others are accomplishing or not accomplishing.
Blessings,
