Did you know competitiveness is a sin? We have been trained by the culture to believe competitiveness with others is not only acceptable but even preferred.
In God's family we are not told to compete with one another but to support one another. If there is competition then it is to make someone above another while diminishing the other.
Competitiveness creates idols in the minds of those who are enamored with them. Idolatry is a sin too.
No one is better or more special than anyone else, everyone had to confess their rottenness to God before He changed them into a new creation. All sense of superiority was removed the day we realized how lost and unworthy we were of God's grace. When we realize this we are joyful and happy to be a member of God's family, we have no need to be above anyone else.
Once competitiveness is fostered in one area of life it then slops into every other area. To compete is to hope to be superior. God calls us to humble ourselves and without this humility, there can be no spiritual or emotional growth that loves to be of help to others.
Through worship of ball teams and other forms of competitive sports we were indoctrinated to believe competitiveness toward others was a badge of honor. What it created was a mentality that caused the culture to desire adulation and praise from others. It is like an addiction, raising dopamine in our minds, a feeling of euphoria over the possibility of being seen as great and special in the minds of others.
Then the culture began demanding that everyone get a trophy so everyone felt good about themselves, this was creating a fantasy that everyone has equal abilities. If everyone would just do their work the best they can they would not need a trophy, they would be pleased that God saw it and would be content with that.
This is the same competition the devil had with God when he was thrown out of heaven. It is not possible to possess humility while at the same time attempting to put someone else lower to make ourselves higher.
Whatever mentality we have toward one another will be how we think about God.
James 4:6–10
"But He gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you."
Philippians 2:3–8
"Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."
Matthew 23:2–12
“The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat, so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others. But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”
When we compete with others to be noticed above others we are exalting ourselves, even worshiping ourselves. The world hates this message because it means diminishing ourselves to live for Christ.
The world has made competitiveness a badge of honor when it should be a shame.
Rather than competing with others through boasting we might want to compete with ourselves to follow Christ more fully, to hear from Him more often, to take everything to Him to be led and controlled by the Holy Spirit. This is the joy of the born-again believer, that Christ lives in us and sees our hearts as no one else could see it.
We can fool others with smooth talk and some good deeds but we can never fool God.
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