Competitve or Not!

Competitive or Not

I'm not usually a competitive person. However, I do have moments when I feel compelled to win. It's in those sometimes moments when, for the pure delight of shutting the bragging mouth of a fellow game player, that the competitive edge comes out and I want to win because the game is no longer fun.

The context for this competitive display is most likely some sort of board game which I may be playing but NOT winning. (99% of the time I play for fun. I usually quit if it gets ugly, because I don't like ugly.)

In the case of this game the person winning is -in my opinion- talking way too much (bragging if you will) and carrying on some verbal nonsense, at the expense of everyone else in the game.

Something rises up in me (my flesh perhaps) and I want to win in a really big way...and when I do, the feeling of satisfaction is oh, so sinfully sweet. My desire, in this situation, is to hopefully get back to the fun of the game. It is, after all, just a game. One of Webster's definitions calls games "an amusement or pastime".1

What is my point here? Sometimes in life we can feel the need to compete against others, be it to get ahead for a job position, to prove something to ourself or others, etc. The reasons can be as varied as we all are in personality OR by what rules our hearts.

One question I often have is, "Is being competitive a godly attribute?" And to flip the coin, "is it godly to be uncompetitive?"

Any number of scenarios can present themselves that may have an impact on our sense of worth, or value. I think it's vitally important that we regularly examine who we are, whose we are, and why we are. Then, with our true identify firmly in place, make decisions about why we are going to pursue a particular course of action.

I should never pursue any venture or expansion of ministry to prove my worth to another human being. To do so is to allow that individual's value system to define who I am and thus influence the decisions and choices I make. For example, the way I allowed myself to be influenced by a simple game was pitiful to say the least.

Sisters, let it be said of us - whether we are competitive or not - that we pursue growth, change, expansion, promotion, for the glory of the Lord and the prize that is set before us; and not for any prize or kudos "the game" may offer.

"Now this I do for the gospel's sake, that I may be partaker of it with you. 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. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown." 1 Corinthians 9:23-25

Stephanie Paul is Director of Women's Addiction Recovery Ministries at America's KESWICK

1 http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/game 2 www.biblegateway.com