{"id":91813,"date":"2025-11-04T16:29:26","date_gmt":"2025-11-04T22:29:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=91813"},"modified":"2025-11-04T16:29:26","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T22:29:26","slug":"competition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/competition\/","title":{"rendered":"Competition"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t<p>by Zeke Flores<\/p>\n<p>No parent wants their child to feel left out, unappreciated, or useless. That&#8217;s understandable, but the answer for some was to stop keeping score for sporting events so there would be no winners or losers and award &#8220;participation trophies&#8221; to everyone who showed up. &#8220;There, that ought to help their self-esteem,&#8221; some thought.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, it produced a generation of youngsters who became complacent, non-competitive, and felt they were owed rewards for doing no work. Then, when some attempted to enter college and found they actually had to compete academically with others to get in, some of their parents resorted to bribery and cheating to get their kids into the colleges they wanted.<\/p>\n<p>Sad, but true.<\/p>\n<p>Interestingly, many New Testament passages are framed in the language of Olympian competition. There are references to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>training (I Corinthians 9:25; Hebrews 12:1),<\/li>\n<li>competing according to the rules (I Corinthians 9:27; II Timothy 2:5),<\/li>\n<li>running a race and boxing (Galatians 5:7; I Corinthians 9:26),<\/li>\n<li>and winning (I Corinthians 9:24; II Timothy 2:5).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>But it seems to me that the competition is not against other Christians, <strong>it&#8217;s against oneself<\/strong> and the sin that &#8220;<em>so easily entangles us<\/em>&#8221; (Hebrews 12:1).<\/p>\n<p>See, a healthy competitive attitude can foster zeal and enthusiasm for the task at hand. Unfortunately, we let too many peripherals cloud our vision, redirect our focus, and impede our progress. Like the people we so often see whose necks are constantly bent toward their phones, missing the wonderful sights ahead, we can be so distracted that we miss the biggest and best destination of all.<\/p>\n<p>Those distractions can be sinful, but they don&#8217;t have to be inherently wrong to get us off track; we just give them an inordinate priority. They can be the simple stuff life is made of: crowded schedules, the needs of a loved one, hobbies, or just plain spiritual laziness. It&#8217;s a daily struggle and takes sharpness and determination to edge out those things that work to slow us down.<\/p>\n<p>Yes, it&#8217;s work.<\/p>\n<p>Yes, it requires real effort, concentration, and dedication.<\/p>\n<p>But in the end, awaits a prize so tremendous that it took the blood of the Son of God to make it possible. And there&#8217;s a winner&#8217;s wreath for everyone who competes and finishes according to the rules.<\/p>\n<p>Now, that&#8217;s a participation trophy I can get behind.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;<em>Let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us<\/em>&#8221; (Hebrews 12:1).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Zeke Flores No parent wants their child to feel left out, unappreciated, or useless. That&#8217;s understandable, but the answer for some was to stop keeping score for sporting events so there would be no winners or losers and award &#8220;participation trophies&#8221; to everyone who showed up. &#8220;There, that ought to help their self-esteem,&#8221; some&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[1211,1430],"class_list":["post-91813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-competition","tag-self-discipline"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":56027,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-the-bible-not-recommended-for-mental-health\/","url_meta":{"origin":91813,"position":0},"title":"Is the Bible not recommended for mental health?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 21, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Greetings, I was told by a psychologist the Word of God (the Bible) is not recommended for mental health. If this is not true, may I please have some biblical evidence please? Answer: \"See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":69845,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-wrong-to-watch-or-play-sports\/","url_meta":{"origin":91813,"position":1},"title":"Is it wrong to watch or play sports?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 17, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello! I've read several of your articles on sports but needed more information. I love college sports and the friendly competition that's behind them. Is there any biblical principle that prohibits playing or watching sports? Answer: The Bible mentions several sports and uses sports to illustrate a few concepts.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":23630,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/better-than-self\/","url_meta":{"origin":91813,"position":2},"title":"Better Than Self","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 12, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Please add an audio file by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Philippians 2:1-11 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When learning another language, it helps to start with the most common words first, the ones most likely to come up in a conversation. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0So what is the most common word spoken in English? \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0One study in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Audio&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":50876,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-cant-compete\/","url_meta":{"origin":91813,"position":3},"title":"I Can&#8217;t Compete","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 31, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jefferson David Tant The religious world is a world of fierce competition, just as car dealerships are in competition with one another. Obviously, the dealer that sells the most cars makes the most profit and has bragging rights - \"We're the #1 Chevy dealer in the Southeast.\" How does\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":39447,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-competitiveness-wrong\/","url_meta":{"origin":91813,"position":4},"title":"Is competitiveness wrong?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 25, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Dear sir, I found\u00a0your article on videos, TV, etc. a most interesting, excellent work. I am troubled by my own shortcomings in all these areas. My questions are: Do most video games and movies not draw on the same need of excitement or exhilaration that people get from sports,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3713,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/am-i-being-too-controlling\/","url_meta":{"origin":91813,"position":5},"title":"Am I being too controlling?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 16, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: My being too controlling on the kids is generally directed towards my eldest. He is a great child:\u00a0very respectful, wins awards for citizenship, and all the teachers adore him and praise him. My problem is I snap at him for anything. Instead of being able to let it roll\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91813"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91813\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}