Competitive Fire
- Gary Fritsch
- Aug 20
- 2 min read
I'm not sure that there is anything that captures the American ethos more than competition. We are built on a capitalist economy that thrives on a competitive market. Our political system breeds winners and losers at every election, and sports in America are a major force in entertainment and leisure. Many would claim that they were made to compete, maybe even made to win. I hate to break it to you, but that's not the way that God made us.
In the Garden of Eden, there was plenty for everyone. Abundance was the norm. Life was intended to be limitless and eternal. But through Adam and Eve's sin, death entered the world. We were now mortal, with a limited span of life and this would leave us scratching and clawing for every bit of it we could get. Instead of the abundance of the Garden, Adam would have to toil for his food, and by the sweat of his brow obtain bread to eat. The first children, Cain and Abel would demonstrate the destructive force of envy and competition. When Cain's offering was not accepted by God, he took his brother's life. And thus, the competitive fire was born. The scarcity of the world had caused Cain to be stingy with the Lord, wanting to keep more for himself. He saw the Lord's favor for Abel as a sign that the Lord could not also have favor for him. He no longer believed in God's infinite love and abundance.
Jesus addresses the same thing with the parable of the day workers. The line that always stings me is this: "are you envious because I am generous?" How many times do we find it hard to celebrate someone else's good fortune, when we think we deserved it? Someone else gets a promotion, someone else has a windfall, their piece of cake is bigger than mine, etc. etc. We are often so focused on 'winning' that we overlook the blessings we have, or discount that God might be blessing us in some other way.
We also suspend our belief in God's abundance when it comes to the length of our life here. Billions upon billions of dollars are spent every year on medicines that extend life a few months, even if the quality of life is not great. We battle for every extra minute here on earth. I'm sure the populace of heaven chuckles at our frantic grappling for another few minutes. Now I am not saying that life is not precious and that we should not seek to get the most of it, but we should also trust in God's providence and that we are eternal beings, Christ has opened eternity for us, and so when we reach our forever home, our competition and grasping for our piece will seem comically tragic in retrospect.
What we will see is that we are each in a class of one, and in our hearts, we are drawn toward excelling in our unique way, not to win, but to see the beauty of our place in the great plan of God. That is a fire worth stoking.
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