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.