Let God Use Your Competitive Spirit
My brother-in-law passed away last
week. He was a testimony of God’s grace and the dramatic difference Jesus can
make in a person’s life. I only knew him after he had put his trust in Jesus as
His Savior. Therefore, I saw him as someone who was devoted to the Lord, loved
his family, and had a generous spirit. However, he would tell you that those
admirable qualities in his life were all the Lord’s doing, because he wasn’t
always like that. Jesus is the One who can make that kind of a difference in
our lives too.
One of the notable characteristics
of my sister’s husband was his competitive spirit. It caused him to excel in
softball, winning numerous national championships and getting inducted into the
Senior Softball Hall of Fame. However, that spirit was evident even at family
gatherings as we watched football games on TV or engaged in a game of cards. He
lived out the idea that if you are going to compete, work hard at it and strive
to succeed. I have always enjoyed sports and have been rather competitive
myself. Nevertheless, the Lord has taught me over the years that, despite what
some coaches may advocate, sometimes there can be higher priorities and more
important factors in life than winning a game. If we tend to be competitive, that
can be a good quality in many ways. I don’t believe we need to rid ourselves of
it, but we may need to make sure we keep it surrendered to God and even channel
it in certain directions.
For example, we should recognize
who our real opposition is in life. It isn’t other people. The Bible says, “For
we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against
powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts
of wickedness in the heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12). Our main enemy is Satan
and his cohorts. He is the one we need to be fighting against. In reality, he
is already a defeated foe – Christ has won the victory over him. However, as he
continues to try to hinder God’s work and destroy our souls, we need to
steadfastly oppose him and his evil plans.
We also need to compete for God and
for good. We should be putting all we have got into being everything that God
wants us to be. The Bible compares our lives to running a race. “Do you not know
that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a
way that you may obtain it” (I Corinthians 9:24). It doesn’t use these words,
but basically it is telling us to be “in it to win it.” This runs contrary to
any notion of simply doing the minimum in order to squeeze into heaven. It
keeps us from sinking into complacency or becoming spiritually lazy. I am not
suggesting that we are saved by our works. However, if we are following the Lord,
this suggests that we should be seeking to get as close to the Lord as we
possibly can. We should be doing all the good we can in our short years here on
this earth. We should be competitive in that way.
If we will view our journey as more
like a race in which we are competing, and seek to run it well, then we will be
able to say what the Apostle Paul did when nearing the end of his life. “I have
fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (II
Timothy 4:7). I believe that was the case with my competitive brother-in-law.
May it be so with us, too.