COMPETING WITH YOURSELF

Galatians 6:4-5

Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else, for each one should carry his own load.

                For a number of years now I have been running in distance races; 5k, 10k, half-marathons. As I reentered the world of running, I came to grips with an obvious reality. I am at best an average runner, which means that I will not be the first one to cross the finish line. More times than not I will finish the race somewhere in the middle of the pack. That relates to the overall number of runners, as well as the runners in my particular age category. If my goal was to win every race that I entered, then I would end every race disappointed. But that has not been my goal. My goal has been to run the best race that I can, hopefully performing better than the last race. In distance races, progress is measured in seconds. For example: I finished the race 10 seconds faster that my last race.

                There is a life lesson to be learned from how we measure success in distance running. The only person we really need to compete against is ourselves. In our competitive world where we measure ourselves against others, we need to refocus our natural drive to compete. The wise person knows that the only competition that really matters is the one against yourself. Life is about being the best you that you can be. Seeking to be better than someone else will most often leave us far short of our real goal.

                Comparing ourselves to others in order to measure our success in life is a double-edged sword. On one side, it can lead us down the path of pride and an inflated ego. It is always possible for us to compare ourselves with those who are less successful. This can make us feel better than we should about where we are in life. It gives us a false sense of accomplishment. It also causes us to look down on others and feel superior to them. The other side of the equation is when we compare ourselves to those who are far out in front of us.  We live in a culture that artificially elevates prominent people. We are enthralled by the amazing “success stories” that popular media feed to us. As we compare our lives with the lives of the “truly successful” people, we find ourselves coming up short. This may be positive motivation for some, but it is discouraging for many. The gap is so great between where we are and where they are that we lose hope of bridging it. Their success becomes our failure and leads to discouragement.

                The Bible gives us a better way to measure our success. We are to measure ourselves against ourselves. As followers of Jesus Christ, we have been gifted and empowered by the Holy Spirit. Each one of us has a unique role to play in the overall Kingdom of God. The more that we understand how God has gifted us and how we can use those gifts for His glory, the more we will be able to accurately measure our progress.

                A famous Rabbi once made the following observation. When I stand before God at the judgment, He will not ask me why I wasn’t Moses. He will ask me why I wasn’t me. We should pay attention to his warning. It is easy for us within the church to measure ourselves against the bright stars of the church. When we do that, we begin to pattern our lives after those bright stars. We try to act like them, talk like them, even dress like them. In the end, we are trying to be someone that we cannot be. When I stand before God at the judgment, He will not ask me why I didn’t measure up to Chuck Swindoll, or Bill Hybels, or Andy Stanley. He will ask me about what I did with the gifts and opportunities that He gave to me.

                Throughout the New Testament, the emphasis is not on emulating other people, but on being the best you that you can be. Peter addresses that in 1 Peter 4:10-11. 

    Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

                Paul challenged the idea of comparing ourselves with others in 1 Corinthians 12.

    Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body.

    The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!" (1 Corinthians 12:14-16, 21)

                Each of us has the responsibility to compete against ourselves. This is never an excuse for laziness or complacency, but a call to grow and mature in our faith. As Paul says in Philippians 3:12-14, Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

                In the race of life, there is only one person that we need to compete against; ourselves. Our progress may be measured in great achievements from time to time, but most of the time it will be measured in small incremental steps. Each step taking us closer to the ultimate goal of being all that God created us to be.