**How Should the Christian Compete?**
When I think of intense competition, I picture the typical children’s sports movie where the two teams are growling at each other and see the opponent as a enemy in battle. I think of two teams who hate each other and will stop at nothing to see the other team crushed. I pictured an athlete willing to cheat to see himself with the trophy and recognition. Sadly, this mentality is promoted from the professional sports and filters all the way down to youth little leagues.
But the Christian must play different. Because we have a different citizenship, thus we also have different values and different purposes. We have been redeemed to glorify our Father in heaven. We aren’t out to further our own reputations and gain attention, but to show that we do all things for sake of Christ. We know this principle from 1 Corinthians 10:31 and Colossians 3:17. In 2 Corinthians 5:14-15, we see that because Jesus Christ died for our sins, we are no longer to live for ourselves, but for Christ. Thus, we must not compete for ourselves, but for Jesus.
But I don’t think that the correct application of that principle means that we should disengage from the culture, instead we should jump in and do what the world can’t, namely compete for the glory of Jesus Christ. The church isn’t separate itself as a secluded body of people doing their own things, but we must be in the world. We are obviously called to not be like the world, but how can we be a witness, if we aren’t in it. The world needs to see how the love of Christ transforms people and one arena to see that is in competition, whether it be on the soccer field, classroom, or business market.
In order for us to have this kind of testimony and for us to compete in such a way that follows biblical guidelines and yet desires to win, we must keep three key principles in mind. The next three posts will discuss each of these principles.
2 comments ↓
Sweet! Keep them coming brother.
MJ, you wrote: “instead we should jump in and do what the world can’t, namely compete for the glory of Jesus Christ.”
Yet in your first post you outlined three guidelines for competition:
(a) two or more people
(b) a desired prize
(c) self-interest of each party involved
If the world cannot compete for the glory of Christ, then, according to your guidelines, there is not competition. (competition requires two or more people for a desired prize) If we are competing for the glory of Christ, and I agree that we are, then who are we competing with? Clearly we are not competing with unbelievers who have neither the desire nor the ability to compete for His glory. It seems that this part of the competition is outside of what you were after. Could help me understand what direction you are going? (maybe that is the point of the next posts!)
Now it just occurred to me that possibly I could have two people in the same competition for a desired prize, but the desired prize is different for each person. For example, the Christian competes in business for God’s glory and the unbeliever competes for green paper. However, this doesn’t seem to promote competition. Do you have any thoughts on this, MJ?
Leave a Comment