Reflections From Sunday Evening

Competition.
We compete in many ways. Some of us are highly competitive. We want to win.
Last week we watched Uber competitive people play in the Super Bowl. ( That did go well!)
There are many other levels and types of competition.
Yesterday Cindy and I went to an indoor track meet at Northwest Missouri State. Our son, Bobby is a coach for Baker University and had some kids running, so we went to check it out.
These are not world class, Olympic type competitors. But it is healthy competition. They give it their best. They run to win, or beat a personal best, or contribute to the team. They were obviously happy to be doing what they were doing.
Sports is a proper venue for competition. A lesson to learn is at the end of the day you did your best, shake hands with others, and move on to the next opportunity.
There are areas where our competitive nature may not be as healthy. I wonder about politics.
I think about church. It seems churches compete for saints rather than lovingly seeking sinners. We measure by numbers - members, money, buildings. We get bummed when the folks up the road seem to be “winning”.
Might want to reconsider some of this.
I do compete in the spiritual life. But the kingdom values are different. We come in first by taking the last place. We gain by giving. We increase when we decrease. It is an interesting “competition”.
It’s been a good day. I hope you’ve had a good day too.
Steve