Competiveness

"What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretence or untruth, Christ is preached and in this, I rejoice, yes and will rejoice."   Philippians 1:12-18.  (v18).  NKJV


Competitive people exist, not only in business, sport and other everyday activities, but they exist in the church too.  Some church leaders can become jealous of another leader who has a bigger church. Some preachers want to shine and be the one who can get more people converted. Some worship leaders, want to outshine any of the other worship leaders. There is competition nearly everywhere that we look.

Paul faced this type of competition when he was on Roman House arrest, prior to his court appearance before Caesar. Therefore, he wrote to his close friends and Christians in Philippi. Some people were preaching from envy and strife, wanting to surpass Paul in ministry. They were trying to promote their own names above the good name of Paul. Some of these people, were glad Paul was imprisoned because it gave them the opportunity to get on and outdo him. Paul knew that they preached from selfish ambition. He knew they had wrong motives to do this, but he felt that if they were preaching the true gospel, it didn't worry him what their motives were or how much they were trying to be better than him. He more or less felt, that if their motives were bad, God would deal with them. At least the true gospel was being preached and people were hearing about Jesus, and that is all that mattered to him.

If people are preaching the true gospel of Jesus Christ, that is fine. Competitiveness is a normal, human characteristic. As long as it doesn't lead to someone being puffed up with pride and splitting a church because of their selfish ambition, it is tolerable.The proof of the pudding is in the eating; if Jesus is promoted in every area of a church, then all is well.

A great way to tackle a competitive spirit comes in the words of AW Tozer, who wrote a piece rebuking attitudes of competition among those in ministry: 

“Dear Lord, I refuse henceforth to compete with any of Thy servants. They have congregations larger than mine. So be it. I rejoice in their success. They have greater gifts. Very well. That is not in their power nor in mine. I am humbly grateful for their greater gifts and my smaller ones. I only pray that I may use to Thy glory such modest gifts as I possess. I will not compare myself with any, nor try to build up my self-esteem by noting where I may excel one or another in Thy holy work. I herewith make a blanket disavowal of all intrinsic worth. I am but an unprofitable servant. I gladly go to the foot of the cross and own myself the least of Thy people. If I err in my self- judgement and actually underestimate myself I do not want to know it. I purpose to pray for others and to rejoice in their prosperity as if it were my own. And indeed it is my own if it is Thine own, for what is Thine is mine, and while one plants and another waters it is Thou alone that giveth the increase.” (from The Price of Neglect, 104-105)

Copyright 2019 Grahame Howard

dailylifewithjesus@protonmail.com