Competition
2020-12-05Galatians 5:26 MSG
When we think about being in competition with others, we’ll often think of trying to be better than someone else – maybe things like getting more likes and comments on our social media posts, better exam results, or a higher paid job. But there’s another type of competition that we can find ourselves in.
Does any of this sound familiar? ‘You think you’ve had a rough week? I’ve had all of these things go wrong…!’ ‘If you want to know what a bad day looks like, try going through the day I’ve just had!’ It’s easy for us to get sucked into this type of competition, where we try to prove that our problems are worse than everyone else’s, but it isn’t the way God wants us to react.
The Message paraphrases Galatians 5 like this: ‘Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives. That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse.’ (v.25-26 MSG).
There are times when we should share that we’re having problems, but if we’re just saying it to compete with others, we need to check ourselves. When someone shares that they’re having a tough time, let’s try to take our focus off ourselves for a few minutes, and offer encouragement and understanding. Sometimes they might just need someone to listen to them and reassure them that with God’s help, they can handle it.