A Competitive Family Game Night
Our family loves to play games together. We also get a little competitive when we play. I find that my kids try harder when there is a little competition involved and if I’m honest with myself, so do I.
A recent family game got me thinking about competition and wanting to win and what the Bible has to say about it. I certainly haven’t exhausted my study of God’s Word and how it applies to competition but here are a few thoughts from my initial study on the topic.
Christians and Competition
Competition can be a good thing, It can motivate us and our children to do our best work and put forth our best effort. It can encourage us to strive for excellence in whatever task we are undertaking. It can even help us recognize our strengths and weakness and determine areas of gifting that the Lord may want us to pursue.
Paul even uses competition to illustrate a spiritual truth about our lives as Christians. See 1 Corinthians 9:24-27.
On the other hand, competition can also cause us to sin.
When we become consumed with winning it is often because we have become selfish. We want to win even at the expense of someone else. We become prideful if we win and angry if we lose.
Have you seen this in yourself? What about your kids?
Some people can win (at games or in life) with little effort. They become lazy, knowing they can win without doing much work. Other people work hard and still never win or get ahead.
Competition should cause us to put forth our best effort whether we win or lose. It should cause us to strive for excellence for the glory of God and not ourselves.
Competition for the Glory of God
The important thing, for us as Christians, isn’t whether we win or lose. The key is whether we put forth our best effort in a desire to please God. The Bible tells us to do everything for the glory of God.
So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
1 Corinthians 10:31
And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Colossians 3:17
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.
Colossians 3:23
The next time your kids are playing a game, ask them, “Did you try your best for the glory of God?” And we would be wise to ask ourselves the same thing. Are we striving to merely win or get ahead? Or are we desiring to honor God in everything we do?
I guess the real question isn’t, “Is competition a good or bad thing?” The more important question is, “What is the state of our own hearts?” God can use competition (the successes and failures) to glorify His name and make us more Christ-like. Or we can choose to turn our hearts towards ourselves and use competition for our own selfish gain and glory.
Just some thoughts from our competitive family game night and my study of God’s Word. What have you learned through your study of Scripture regarding competition?
(And, yes, we will continue to have our competitive family game nights. We love spending time together. We love playing games. And we enjoy the excitement and challenge of a competitive game.)
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