Verse: 2 Peter 1:3
His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
Devotional Thoughts:
It’s VBS week! The theme this year is Game On!, so there’s been a lot of fun games and competitions going on.
It’s interesting to think about the idea of Game On!. I’ve played baseball with nothing but a tennis ball and a 2 x 4 board on the dirt streets of Nicaragua. I’ve played slip and slide kickball at church camp. We even played marshmallow dodgeball just the other day. One thing common to almost every group is that they are all competitive. Not many approach a game with the desire to lose.
Why is that? What is it within us that makes us competitive? What makes us not want to simply be good, but rather want to be better than someone else? Is competition wrong?
I think, if pressed, most of us would say competition isn’t a bad thing in and of itself. It can turn bad – we only have to read the account of Cain and Abel to see that. But which surgeon would you rather have, the one who finished first in his class or the one who had to retake several classes but eventually barely passed?
I think the classic movie, Chariots of Fire, illustrates the point I’m heading toward. The movie is based on the 1924 Olympics and two of the best runners – Eric Liddell and Harold Abrahams.
Eric Liddell was a Christian who represented Scotland. He was a missionary, and many thought he should give up the sport. He, on the other hand, believed that God called him to race, and to do it for the glory of God. Harold Abrahams ran for Britain, and he was obsessed with winning. For him, running was his entire reason for living.
There are two scenes that show the contrast between Eric Liddell and Harold Abrahams.
In one scene Abrahams says,
And now in one hour’s time I will be out there again. I will raise my eyes and look down that corridor, 4 feet wide, with 10 lonely seconds to justify my whole existence. But will I?
In another scene, Liddell is talking to a person who thinks he should give up the race. He says,
I believe God made me for a purpose, but He also made me fast. And when I run, I feel His pleasure.
Points to Ponder:
Win or lose, Eric Liddell knew that he would be pleasing God, because he was running for God. Ideally, our entire lives should be devoted toward pleasing only one – the Lord. So when we win, we do it for the Lord. But when we lose, we still do it for the Lord. And when we lose while doing it for the Lord, that empowers us to shake our competitor’s hand and sincerely congratulate them. Because we know that our value, in the eyes of God, isn’t determined by competition. God doesn’t look at us according to who we outperform.
Competition can be the means by which we learn and grow. It can be used as a tool in the tool belt of God. I remember competing with a colleague for the top spot in our college speech class. We were great friends, but I still wanted to be first. Even still, I noticed later how the competition, and my eventual second place finish, helped me grow as a speaker.
So maybe God can use competition for His purposes. Maybe He can use things as simple as marshmallow dodgeball to build friendships, to teach how to have patience with others, and to show us how to exhibit humility.
So break out the old baseball glove and lace up the sneakers. Challenge your husband/wife, son/daughter, grandson/granddaughter to a race to the oak tree and back or to an old-fashioned game of wiffle-ball. Maybe you should get your Game On! too.
Blessings,
Zac
