• Today.. I Choose to Complete NOT to Compete!



    I am not a competitive person, in fact, I hate competitions! Though while growing up, I won the best actress award and if my memory serves me right, won the best singer while in middle school, yet I look at those experiences as part of growing up and developing our God-given talents.

    The secular world runs on competitions! But this is not what the Lord desires from us!  What frustrates me most is that even among our churches today, competition is slowly distorting the very essence of genuine service and leadership. There is competition among the pastors, the elders, the worship leaders, the Sunday school teachers, the members, the youths and the children and the list goes on.  Have we forgotten that the very reason why Lucifer fell from the very presence of God was because of his desire to compete with God and to take His place?

    So why compete? We have nothing to compete for and nothing to be proud of! Let us not forget that everything that we have is the Lord’s! Name it – God owns it! 1 Chronicles 29: 11 declares it clearly, “Everything in the heavens and earth is yours, O Lord, and this is your kingdom. We adore you as being in control of everything. Riches and honor comes from you alone, and you are the Ruler of all mankind; your hand controls power and might, and it is at your discretion that man are made great and given strength.” (TLB)

    God owns our life, our talents, our skills and intelligent! Whatever achievements and honors we receive are results of the manner how God coded our DNA when we are still in our mother’s womb.  In fact, Psalm 139:16b says And in Your book were written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them.”  God has already written our life’s story. And… we were born naked and nothing! Only in God did we find our life!

    So, why are we permitting the spirit of competition to creep into our churches? Why are we allowing it to destroy relationships, and the worst, fellowship of God’s people? Why are we pulling someone down just because we want to be the first? Why are we exerting all our efforts to be the best wherein God only requires us to do our best?

    The Bible is so clear that as God’s people, we are not to compete but to complement one another. Each one has a specific design and purpose for the body of Christ. We need to acknowledge this truth. It is essential that we discover the gifts God has blessed us and utilize it for the encouragement of the believers and for God’s glory and honor. I love how Romans 12: 3-5 puts it, “ Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.  

    This mandate is strengthened furthermore by Philippians 2: 3 – 5 “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interest but also for the interest of others.

    What is our challenge then? It is to “throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.” (Hebrews 12: 1-2)

    We are runners in the track called life. God’s intention is for us to finish the race He has marked out for us! But it is also our responsibility to make sure that God’s children within our sphere of influence complete the race God has designed for them. It is our call to encourage them, help and raise them up when they fall, rejoice with them in their victories and cheer them up to finish the race. We are not to impede their run but to assist them to reach the finish line. 

    Let us always remember that our journey in this world is a race planned by a loving and caring Father. As we run the race, we are being transformed in the likeness of His Son as we experience His love, His faithfulness and His fellowship.

    The mark of a true winner is when God says “Well done, good and faithful servant … come and share your Master’s happiness.”

    “I have fought a good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith.” 2 Timothy 4:7

     

1 comments:

  1. Unknown said...

    Thank you po sa napaka ganda at mapagpalang mensahe po! God bless us all and to God be all the glory. :)

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