Subscription Lists

"Why does everything have to be a contest!"

This question was asked by a dear friend of mine. This man was a businessman, and very aware of competitive business practices and situations. However, he was dismayed at the attitude of competitiveness, jealousness caused by what he saw as a very unchristian competitive spirit operating within the church. Even conversations were often colored by it.

What about competition in the church? - between members competing for leadership positions, or in athletic contests? Sports contests, within and with other churches is often sponsored as a social activity and thereby endorsed and approved. It appeals to human nature - the nature that Christ in us is working to change. The gloss generally used as a reason for promoting competitions is that "they bring out the best" in people. Really?

But could it be that they are promoted in order to placate others and cater to the remaining carnality and worldliness of the participants? Or, is it a seemingly benign similarity to the "fun" experienced by the promoters of the Christians and the lions?

There is one competing we as Christians must enter into. We are in a competition with Satan every moment of our lives. He will continually throw fiery darts and spiritual punches toward us. As an extension of this, sometimes we are forced into competing with him through the disguise of other people. We must be alert to all of his wiles. Being a Christian is a life-long competition with our nature, the ways of this world, and also Satan directly. It is a competitive warfare. As the "god of this world" he has many weapons to attack us with.

But God has clothed us with His amour. We may be knocked down, but we can never stay down if we are trusting in Him. We compete with our fallen natures with our will and the power of the Holy Spirit. We compete with this world. It is God's world by way of His original creation, but is now controlled by Satan and his fallen angles (demons).

Satan is the original competitor. He competed with God. And he competes with us, and is the author of deep down feelings of competitiveness. Satan competes directly with us, and constantly looks for the chink in our amour, in order to subvert our faith, discourage us, tries to turn us against God in any and every way he can. We all have weak points, and he will search them out and magnify them in a myriad of ways. Spiritually, we are always in competition with evil. In a sense, we are always competing with ourselves, but not with others - especially other believers. This competition is inappropriate, simply because we are all being trained for different positions in Christ's Kingdom.(Hebrews 10:24).

The Apostle Paul used the competitive element of the athletic competitions of the time in which he lived to illustrate the spiritual competition between our flesh and the Spirit (1 Corinthians 9:24-27). With our will and the active leading and influence of the Holy Spirit, we are conditioned to win over our fleshly tendencies, and compete with Satan for our spirit and win. He never intended to endorse rank and violent struggles between human Christian bodies pitted against each other.

He pictures how we must discipline our carnal inclinations, and strengthen our commitment to overcoming the natural tendencies of our flesh. As in our day today, almost everyone was familiar with the games, and could understand the determination required to conquering the downward pulls of our flesh. No one could miss the point he was making about what is required to grow in the Christian life.

But competition between believers should be a non-issue. In Christ sight, and by His sacrifice, competition between His servants is encouraging of internal friction and can lead to division and personal offense. It will not exist in the Kingdom of God. Love and cooperation will be the rule of the new-born children of God. Human nature loves competition, because it is human, and not of God. At the very least, competitiveness leads to exaltation of the self. Someone has rightly stated that our age is the age of "self". It is a version of the old "me generation". Today, its "all about self". Only the terminology has changed.

Paul covers the whole arena of evil involving the spirit of competition when writing to the Galatians about their penchant for self exaltation:

"And those who belong to Christ Jesus (the Messiah) have crucified the flesh (the godless human nature) with its passions and appetites and desires. If we live by the [Holy] Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. [If by the Holy Spirit we have our life in God, let us go forward walking in line, our conduct controlled by the Spirit.] Let us not become vainglorious and self-conceited, competitive and challenging and provoking and irritating to one another, envying and being jealous of one another."- Galatians 5:24-26

The spirit of competition was apparently becoming a potential problem among the Galatians.

Compete with yourself in striving to consider the other as better than yourself (Philippians 2:3). This amounts to mutually exalting each other. This then becomes worldly competition in reverse. It becomes love instead. It becomes giving out freely, not taking from another. Compete in genuinely loving another more than they love you. Strive to love the other more than they love you, by giving to them as you would give to yourself. This will encourage the other one to strive to love you more than you love them. In this way, the competition of this world is nullified and turned on it head, and made to serve and give instead of take.

Others are increased, and at the same time you are increased. Love never is jealous. It never hurts, but always exalts others truthfully, and never takes from the other (1 Corinthians 13). Genuine love cannot be counterfeited, fabricated or faked. God will always love us more than we love Him. He already has. There is no contest, and no competition in Christ.

By considering others as better than yourself, God will see to it that you are also considered by others as better than themselves. Everyone is mutually valued more and more. There are no losers. Everyone wins.

Imagine...

This will continue for eternity!

"Love endures long and is patient and kind; love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily. It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly. Love (God’s love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong]." - 1 Corinthians 13:4-5 (AMP)

"Voice of Inspiration" from Andy Castro

Psalms 91:13