Skip to main content

The Problem with Competition

            I am a fairly competitive person.  In fact, I am so competitive that I have been known to incite family fights while playing board games at Christmastime. To me, if you are not playing to win there is no point in playing at all.  A competitive attitude can be a good thing because it causes you to challenge yourself and it pushes you to do your best.

            On the other hand, it is hard to be happy when you are ultra-competitive.  If you lose at something, you are mad because you feel that you should always win.  If you win, you are not happy because you only did what you expected yourself to do.  In a sense, having to win all the time is a “no win situation”.

            One other problem that competitive people have is that it is hard for them to be happy when other people succeed.  Thinking in “me versus you” terms automatically causes us to believe that “success” comes in limited quantities.  In other words, competition makes us see success like a pie: if you get more then I automatically get less.

            But what if “success” is actually unlimited?  What if your success has no negative effect on me at all?  If that is true, then I can be happy for any good thing that happens to you. 

            This is the worldview that Paul urges the Roman church adopt when he tells them to, “Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.  Live in harmony with one another” (Romans 12:15-16).  Their relationships were to be defined by things like compassion and empathy rather than competition.  In fact, earlier in that same chapter, each person is told to use whatever gift they have been given so that they can help and bless one another (verses 1-8).  Individual success was not the goal. 

            Happiness is found not when we acquire more stuff than the next person, but when we learn to rejoice in our own blessings and use them to help one another.

            “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2).

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Art of Noticing.... Seeing what we need to see and what we miss when we don't

 What we focus on in life matters. Here are some scriptural reminders that will help us see correctly.  https://youtu.be/Rn76tV0ZH8s    
Post a Comment
Read more

New Article: A Path Worth Following

  Jehoram was a terrible king.  He reigned in Judah around the year 850 B.C. and he did not care about God or his people.  His first act as king was to assassinate his six brothers so that no one could challenge his authority.  He was brutal and selfish.   Therefore, when the Bible sums up his life, it says, “Jehoram… passed away, to no one’s regret, and was buried in the City of David” (2 Chronicles 21:20).  Did you catch that?  “To no one’s regret!”  What a terrible phrase for your tombstone. On the other hand, consider a lady named Tabitha.  She lived in the city of Joppa in the first century A.D. and we are told, “… she was always doing good and helping the poor” (Acts 9:36).  She became sick and died.  This caused the community so much grief that they called Peter, who was in the nearby town of Lydda, to come and help them.  When Peter arrived, a crowd gathered, bringing all the robes and other clothing that ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Consider This.... Which Way Are You Leaning?

   When Ben Patterson agreed to join three friends climbing Mount Lyell, the highest point in Yosemite National Park, he did not realize what he was signing up for.  Early in the day, it became clear that he was completely unprepared for the task.  In an effort to keep up with his more experienced friends, Ben took a shortcut.  It did not occur to him that there might be a reason the others had not selected this route, but he soon found out why.  Ben became stuck on the glacier.  He could not move up, down or sideways and one wrong move would send him sliding down a forty-five-degree slope to the valley floor miles below.   That is when one of his friends came to the rescue. His buddy leaned over the edge and carved some footholds in the ice.  He told Ben to step to the first foothold and immediately swing his other foot to the second, then his buddy would pull him to safety.  Lastly, his friend gave him one more piece of advice....
Post a Comment
Read more