Ed, my neighbour next door, was upset to discover me removing the horseshoe pits in our backyard yesterday. Winning is a big deal with Ed. Out of a dozen games of horseshoes against me over the last few years, Ed has won most. Even a 90 per cent winning average is not enough for Ed. When it comes to friendly sports and card games, it is as if Ed wrote the song lyrics "anything you can do I can do better." Ed is disgusted with the video games of today because his grandchildren are able to reach levels way beyond his own.
Growing up in a large family, Ed was raised on a steady diet of comparing and competing with siblings. According to Ed, the best place to be is ahead of everyone else and finishing first. "Somebody has to lose," Ed is quick to say, except if it is Ed who loses.
Joseph of the Bible, like Ed, also grew up in a large family. He had 10 older brothers and one younger brother. Jacob, his father, loved Joseph more than any of his other sons. Jacob showed Joseph preferential treatment by giving only him a coat of many colors. The resentment of Joseph by his 10 older brothers festered into jealousy and then into hatred and thoughts of murder.
Comparing and competing can bring the worst out in any of us. Jealousy and resentment destroy us from inside out. I found that when I played hockey, friendly competition often became way less than friendly. I played with a friend who wanted to win so badly he had more than his share of fist fights and wrestling matches on the ice.
Most of us have more than our share of struggles in life, because we so easily slip into comparing ourselves with others, competing with a need to win, and being blind to the envy and jealousy that is strangling our souls. Envy caused Joseph's brothers to sell him into slavery and to tell his father he was killed by a wild animal. Friendly competition, sibling rivalry, and workplace vying for leadership can easily become callous and animalistic at times, to the loss of everyone it touches.
In sports, records set are only the best until someone else breaks them. Getting ahead of everyone else also works for death. Sooner or later we will die before others. Being first means nothing when you are dying. Even the disciples of Jesus argued among themselves as to who was the greatest. We are prone to lord it over one another. Jesus told the disciples, "The greatest among you should be like the youngest and the one who rules like the one who serves."
"Winning isn't everything, but it sure beats losing," Ed tells me often. How do we win with God? First of all, God calls us to be secure in His love for us in Jesus Christ. We are valued so much by God that His Son lived, died and arose for us. When we have faith in Christ we have an equal share in God's victory for all. By faith in God we have a shared first-place position. With God, everyone is a winner.
