Faithbase

Hey everybody, Josh here again with another video for you. Today we are going to be talking about hustling and the comparison trap. I'm a big fan of social media. I'm using it every day. I'm pretty much on it relentlessly and I love that I can see people encouraging, motivating, challenging, and inspiring me. When I see people, particularly in their Christian walk, talking about the progress that they've made or the breakthroughs that they've experienced with God, I find it highly inspiring and it makes me want to hustle and put more effort in to my walk. But another thing that I've noticed in my own personal life, and maybe you're seeing it too, is that I can find myself falling into a comparison trap. And that's where I end up kind of comparing my behind-the-scenes stuff. All of the things that I know about my life that I wish were better than they actually are, are being compared to people's highlights or the best moments that they're sharing on social media. As they're kind of living their best life now, I find myself going, oh man, I wish I could be doing things like them. I wish I was as effective for the gospel as that person. And so I wanted to encourage you today to make sure that you're avoiding those two pitfalls, right? The idea of getting caught in the comparison of everything and feeling like you're less than when you see other people doing great stuff, whether it's for the kingdom or in business or whatever venture in which you find yourself. But particularly when it comes to hustling, I think there's a big thing that we tend to overlook, especially when we look at the person of Jesus as he talks about his life and we see his ministry in the Gospels. There's always sections that talk about how Jesus carved out time, usually very early in the morning when it was still dark. The Scriptures will say, Jesus got up and found some time to go be alone and spend it with God the Father. And so I wanted to challenge you to think about the idea of what it looks like for you to carve out and spend time with God the Father. Are you hustling too hard? Are you hustling too long without taking times and durations of periods for rest? And there's pretty much two things that I have found to be effective ways of determining whether or not my hustle has been going on too long and I'm neglecting my time with the Lord. First way, how's my body feeling? This is a very practical and it's an easy thing to tell. Am I getting sick? Do I find myself being exhausted? Am I neglecting personal relationships that are important to me just because I don't have the energy to put the time into them that they require? Because if you find yourselves falling into any one of those things, chances are your body needs a rest. Second thing, do I still remember the why behind what I'm doing? Oftentimes even in creating new YouTube videos, creating a new website, blogging, doing ministry, I can forget the why and get so caught up in the how. These are the things that I need to get done X, Y, and Z over the next four or five days so that people can see my content, so I can engage in every comment to write that people send to me, so I can send people direct messages asking them for prayer. Whatever it is, I need to take steps back and remember the why behind what I'm doing which is to bring God glory. And so for you, how is your body feeling? What is the why behind your how? Maybe you need to take some time with people that you trust and know and analyze what's going on. Ask them to speak truth into your life. So I hope these things are helpful for you as you're trying to figure out how to hustle and keep on your grind for the sake of good things, but also remember to take time and relax. If you have any questions, please feel free to shoot me a message. I'm over on Instagram at Joshua underscore Carmen. I would love to connect with you there and have a great week.