10 Things To Abandon For Spiritual GrowthSample

Abandon: Competition

Competition can be healthy and unhealthy. We see it between people, in sports, and business. Unhealthy competition is when the little league parent goes off on the umpire for making a bad call or belittles a child who didn’t make the play to win the game. Healthy competition is when a person or team plays in such a way that motivates the other person or team to give their all to “leave it all on the court.”

The book of Genesis offers an example of unhealthy competition between two brothers named Cain and Abel. Cain saw that God received his brother's offering while rejecting his. Genesis 4:3-5 says, “In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast." (NIV) Cain’s competitive anger destroyed his relationship with his brother which ultimately lead to him killing Abel.

How do we abandon unhealthy competition? We embrace healthy competition which comes when we see the true purpose of it. Our goal should be to encourage and push ourselves and others to be better instead of trying to win at all costs. As we can see with Cain and Abel, unhealthy competition often takes us places that we don’t want to go. We should encourage others to know, love, and be like Jesus every chance we get.

Prayer:

Our Father, help us to compete with honor. May the fruits of Your Spirit be evident in our lives as we seek to honor You in all that we do. May competition be something positive that builds up everyone involved.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.