Unhealthy Competition

My church has just finished going through the book of Galatians.  I have really enjoyed this.  The book of Galatians covers a lot of the important pieces from the Gospel.  This book shows ways we as Christians can best follow the Gospel.  Christ created us, and He is also the only thing that can save us.  We can not save ourselves through our good works or through good thoughts, only through God’s salvation.    

One thing the very end of the 5th chapter of Galatians discussed was the idea of competition.  This is said in verse 29 with, “Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.”  We shouldn’t spend time in envy or in jealousness.  Sometimes we as people and as Christians can become competitive, even about things we should never be competitive about, including times when we are trying to discover who is the “strongest Christian?”  There are times we can start competing with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ as opposed to helping them grow.  

Paul will continue looking at ways we should not compete.  This is when a brother or sister is in sin, or when a brother or sister is overburdened or when a brother or sister is succeeding and we may not be.  Paul will find he needs to tell the Galatians ways to love their brothers and sisters in Christ.  There needs to be this love and this care for them in all ways.  This is how we show Christ like love.  

There are many times we as people and as brothers and sisters in Christ need to encourage and love our other members of the body, even when they sin and we want to be competitive with them or judge them for their mistakes.  I know I can fall into doing this at times.  Sometimes when I feel someone is a better Christian than me, and then I see them struggle or sin, I start to feel a little better about myself as a whole.  However, we should not spend time comparing ourselves or trying to make ourselves feel better in this way, we need to be spending time restoring that brother or sister to Christ.  We need to be making a way for them to feel whole and a part of society once again.  

We can also feel this way when it comes to others being overburdened.  There are many times I can internally find myself competing with others about who is busier.  I try to make myself busy doing various projects and activities, for the church and sometimes for personal reasons, so there are times when I can feel overburdened.  Then sometimes I want to feel as though I am the most busy Christian, and maybe this is how I want to be perceived.  However, I shouldn’t make this my goal.  This isn’t going to bring me closer to the relationship with Christ I need.   However, just as I would feel comforted and loved if a fellow brother or sister helped me when I am overburdened, I need to do this for my brothers and sisters in Christ.  

Then lastly we can start to feel like comparing when either a brother or sister in Christ is really succeeding or when we are succeeding.  This can sometimes lead to either pride in our own work, or we can start to be jealous of the work the other person is doing.  Either way, we should not be focused on the roles and the jobs another Christian has.  We are called to do a certain work and job for Christ.  There is a plan and a desire He has for us as believers, and we need to find ways to follow him to the best of our ability. 

The challenge of this week is to think about whether or not you are very competitive in a non-healthy way.  Is there someone you are unhealthily competitive or jealous of?  What are some ways we can best get over these competitive thoughts? Why are you feeling this way?  This feeling of competitiveness is a heart issue.  After you do some reflection on whether or not you are competitive or jealous of someone, spend some good time in prayer and with the root of the issues with the heart.