Competition

I found the passage I couldn't find the other day about running the race. I had read it in "Respectable Sins" and as we discussed the final chapters last night, I saw it while looking for the author's statements about competitiveness. Welch used Paul's words about running to win the prize as an illustration for something completely different from how this verse had been used in my formative years. But it really stood out to me and I wanted to share it here, along with some of his comments on competition.

Someone may argue that Paul tacitly endorsed competitiveness in 1 Corinthians 9:24: "Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it." But the analogy breaks down at the point of the prize. In a race, only one runner wins and receives the prize. But in the Christian life, we may all receive the prize. Paul is not urging us to compete with one another. Rather, he is saying, "Run the Christian race with the same intensity that the runners run who are competing for the one prize."

Let me clarify that I'm not writing against friendly competition but against the competitive spirit that always has to win or be the best. Actually, I believe that healthy competition is good, especially for children and high schoolers, as it can provide an arena in which they can seek to do their best. And this kind of competition is not limited to sports. There is competition at science fairs or among bands or at spelling bees. But in whatever competition, the question the child or teenager and their parents should ask is not "Did we win?" but "Did we do our best?"

You can see now that there is a close relationship between envy, jealousy, and competitiveness. We tend to envy a peer who is ahead of us in an area we value highly. We become jealous of a person who is overtaking us. And both of these foster a competitive spirit that says, "I must always win or be number one." All of these attitudes are the result of ungodly selfishness, of thinking only of ourselves.

I have been learning over the past few years that the key to so many of our wrong motivations and attitudes is failing to see all of our lives in the context of living for God's glory. When I once believed that God required me to reach perfection in this life, my focus was entirely inward. It caused me to be constantly focused on self rather than the cross. It also results, quite often, in comparing ourselves to others. (I'm doing better than that person. But I'm not as far along as that person.) As if others were the measuring stick for how we are doing in our walk with God. But the message of the Bible is quite the opposite. The Pharisee thanked God that he was not like others (thinking he was doing better in pleasing God). And yet Jesus said that it was the despised tax collector who went away justified (because of his poverty of spirit).

Danny (my son) teaches his elementary school kids about being image bearers. We are created in the image of God and our purpose in life is to glorify Him in everything we do, including sports and even play. Whatever gifts we have we are to use for God's glory. He has blessed all of us with certain talents and abilities. But the purpose of those gifts is to honor and glorify Him so that His blessings may flow through us to bless others. God gave me a couple of natural abilities. One is hospitality and feeding people in my home. I now understand how I bring glory to Him and use what He has given me to bless others simply by opening my home and my kitchen. I don't have to be doing anything that places me in a prominent position. We glorify God most by serving others. We cannot be focused on our own glory when we are focused on glorifying Him.

The world around us exalts and idolizes winners. But we know that our purpose in life is to exalt God, not ourselves, and to have no idols. We are to esteem others above ourselves and be servants. If we run the race for God's glory, His honor and not our own, we will live lives that please God. And doing everything for God's glory gives meaning and satisfaction to even our suffering because we begin to love other people for His glory and not because we need them.

There are relationships God has asked me to let go and give to Him. There are people in my life that I have tried very hard in the past to please and thought I "needed" their approval. God has been teaching me that not only do I not "need" to please them or have their approval, He doesn't want that to be my goal. I am to love them but not need them. When we love out of need, we cannot love unselfishly. I've lost some dear friendships in recent years and that has brought sadness to my heart. But for every treasured friend I have lost, God has placed new ones in my life to nurture and encourage me in ways I have never experienced. I am learning to relinquish that which He withholds and focus on all that He has provided.

We know that God has given us everything we need in Christ. We just have to remind ourselves sometimes of what we know. What I was once taught was essentially that I was competing with Jesus. I don't know whether or not Jesus could have failed to live a sinless life and redeem us. It seems foolish to me to focus on anything other than the good news that He triumphed over sin and He did not fail. But that was an important point to some in my past and I remember hearing people say, "If he could not have failed, then he had an unfair advantage over us (in becoming perfect)." That belief makes Christ our rival rather than our Savior. I'm so thankful I see that now. There are so many facets to that teaching that are deceptive. Some are obvious and some are subtle. The important thing is not whether or not He could have failed, but that He defeated sin through the cross and we are IN Him. We don't stand on our own merit with God.

I thank God that I am not running a race of competition. Jesus has won the race on my behalf (and yours, if you will accept His sacrifice). My life is to be a living demonstration of HIS victory and triumph. I have the privilege and the opportunity to glorify Him and be a living reflection of His glory.

Comments