Run like a champion

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There is a lot to be grateful about as I'm slowly easing back to getting used to the workplace, learning and being productive. It's not easy going back to work after a 10 year break. 

I wish that I could take credit for how well I managed everything. But, in reality, the whole process has been purely God's grace. Right from the job interview, to the work, to transitioning the kids and managing schedules. I do not have my skill set to rely on, because I'm rusty. Maybe, it's better this way. 

For when I'm weak, then He is strong. There is comfort in knowing that God is in control and if He can bring me thus far, He is fully capable of guiding me through the rest of the way.

I wonder sometimes, if one can truly succeed without being competitive. I see it all around me - the kids and their school, the sport related activities, work, home, friends and colleagues. Can one truly succeed by just going with the flow? 

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. - 1 Corinthians 9:24-26

In this verse, it seems like Paul is speaking about the spirit of competition. But, at the same time, Paul's idea of being competitive is pushing himself to do what God enables him to do. It is not said in the spirit of making others his rival.

This is clear in how he treats the people around him. His student, Timothy whom he also mentored. The apostles like Peter and Barnabas who worked with him and also when Paul spoke about the gospel to others. 

Even in my day to day life, I admire the people who make the best of their resources. The people who don't feel the need to compare and compete or put each other down. The well wishers, who genuinely care about others and want what's best for them. 

Such kind of people do exist though they are a rarity because we are all insecure about something or the other. We can be happy for someone as long as they don't do better than us and we especially cannot wish someone well, if they have what we want.

The other day, in a sermon at Flatirons, the preacher quoted a verse from the 'Message' translation of the Bible and it stuck with me because I think it sums up our human condition.

It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on.  
But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely. 
Legalism is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in the way. Among those who belong to Christ, everything connected with getting our own way and mindlessly responding to what everyone else calls necessities is killed off for good—crucified.
That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original.
- Galatians 5: 19-26

The habit  of "depersonalizing everyone into a rival" means that we no longer view that person as a brother/sister in Christ. Instead, we make it a competition, and want to be better than that person.

There should have been no comparison because we are all created uniquely, so we should be able to encourage, uplift and recognize each others' gifts, without jealousy and malice. How much more enriching and fulfilling our community would be, if we were able to put this in practice?

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