Galatians 6:4–5 (NLT):
“4 Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else. 5 For we are each responsible for our own conduct.”
When Comparison Distracts You From What God Is Doing in You
There are some scriptures we might gloss over or read right past because they don’t seem to be leading toward anything dramatic. Galatians 6:4–5 is a good example of that. It may not be pointing to one of those “knock ya socks off” kind of revelations, but there’s an instruction here that can save us from a whole lot of unnecessary frustration: pay attention to your own walk.
Pay attention to what God is doing in you. Pay attention to the areas where you need to grow. Pay attention to your own choices, your own conduct, and your own relationship with Him. And while you’re doing that, be careful about spending too much time looking at what God is doing in somebody else’s life.
That can be especially hard when you’ve been waiting on something you deeply desire. You start wondering if you’re missing something. You question whether you’ve done something wrong. Those questions can really eat at you when somebody you know gets engaged after dating six months and you’ve been waiting for years.
You can love God, genuinely be happy for somebody else, and still have that little place inside of you asking, “Lord, what about me?” And that’s the place we need to talk about.
Pay Attention to What Comparison Is Doing
When the desire to be loved, have a significant other, or get married gets intense, it’s very easy to start paying too much attention to what everybody else is doing. Before long, we’re measuring our lives against theirs without even realizing it.
And here’s where it can really start messing with us. Underneath all that measuring can be the thought that God somehow put somebody else’s desires before yours. That’s one of those thoughts that sneaks in from behind and can hinder us from believing and trusting God the way faith in Him requires. Because now you’re not just looking at what somebody else has. You’re starting to question what God is doing in your own life.
Faith means trusting the goodness of God when you can’t make sense of His timing. It means trusting Him when the desire is still there, the prayer still hasn’t been answered, and you still don’t understand why. John 21:21-22 (NLT) tells us, “Peter asked Jesus, “What about him, Lord?” Jesus replied, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? As for you, follow me.” In other words, “Get your mind right, Peter. Stay focused on what’s important.” This is where Galatians brings us back to where we need to be: “Pay careful attention to your own work.” Because somebody else’s season should never have control over yours.
There Is Still Work to Do in You
Waiting doesn’t put your walk with Christ on hold. There is still spiritual growth that needs to take place. There are still areas where God is teaching you, things He wants you to surrender, gifts He has given you to use, people He has placed in your life to love, and things He has put in your hands to do. These are so important to pleasing God and living a life of love. They don’t become less important simply because you aren’t married.
While we’re asking God about our circumstances, He may also call our attention back to our own hearts. Not because there’s necessarily something wrong with you that is keeping you from getting married. And not because marriage is the reward God gives us once we finally get ourselves together. But because whatever season we’re in, God is still committed to our growth in Christ.
There may be a place within you that is screaming for a man to notice you. That sends a message of desperation. There may be a place that believes being chosen by a man will prove that you’re desirable, valuable, or finally enough. Colossians 2:10 (NLT) tells us, “So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.” We’re complete in Christ already, but we may be expecting a man to complete us, and therefore our thinking and our feelings may be out of alignment with God’s truth. There may be a place within us that knows all the right Scriptures, knows exactly what a Christian woman is supposed to say, and still hurts. God doesn’t hold these things against us, but He doesn’t ignore them either. He knows what is underneath them, and we need to let Him deal with those places in us.
Psalm 37:4-5 (NLT) tells us, “Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you your heart’s desires. Commit everything you do to the LORD. Trust him, and he will help you.” God’s goodness can’t be measured by whether He gives us the thing we want. He’s good all by Himself. And He’s good all the time.
Don’t Give Away Another Day
This is where seasoned faith has to stand up and tell the truth. We’ve spent enough time allowing relationship status to determine whether we think life is going well.
You still have a life to live before God while you wait. You still have a relationship with Jesus Christ to tend. You still have growing to do. You still have people to love. You still have gifts to use. You still have obedience God requires. And you still have today.
Don’t give somebody else’s life so much of your attention that you neglect your own.
Pay attention to your own walk. Let God correct what needs correcting. Let Him heal what needs healing. Let Him expose the lies you’ve believed. Let Him strengthen what has become weak. And let Him teach you how to live so fully in Christ that you don’t have to diminish somebody else’s blessing or despise your own season.
Stay close to Jesus. Pay attention to your own walk. There is still so much God wants to do in you and through you right where you are. ■
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
“Pay Attention to Your Own Walk”, written by Kim Times for Sundie Morning Sistas ©2026. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! SMS is dedicated to inspiring and encouraging Christian Women through the Word of God.
