God’s View on CompetitionMostra

Politics can be a vicious sport. When one party wins an important election, there’s traditionally an acceptance speech that declares and celebrates the victory.

However, it’s not uncommon after the victory for some members of the winning party to begin to gloat publicly about their opponent’s defeat. Unfortunately, this happens in business at times as well. Some people are so competitive that they relish watching their opponents stumble or fall. However, such behavior is not pleasing to the Lord.

Proverbs 24:17 says, “Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when they stumble, do not let your heart rejoice, or the Lord will see and disapprove and turn his wrath away from them.”

The Lord loves humility, both when you rise and when you fall. You cannot be certain tomorrow you will not be the one who stumbles, so maintain the level of respect towards others that you would hope to receive yourself. As verse 9 of the same chapter points out, “people detest a mocker." Ridiculing the fallen will not gain you honor from God or your peers.

God wants to celebrate our victories with us, but He also wants us to respect those He created who either beat us or who have recently fallen.

Questions For Reflection

• How can you celebrate a victory without relishing in another’s defeat? What does an honorable victory look like? Why is maintaining honor in your victory and in your defeat important?
• Has stumbling ever helped you? What did you learn from your failure? Would you be as successful now if you had not failed in the past?