Competition

When Sisters Fight

By NIV Woman’s Study Bible

For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?

1 Corinthians 4:7

Competition in the sense of a common struggle for the same objective can be a healthy thing. It can inspire us to study harder and run faster. To be challenged and pushed to reach a goal is not wrong in itself. However, when sin starts to edge its way into the competition, the goal of personal achievement is distorted into an obsession to “show up” someone else. Such competition can move our eyes from focus on the intended goal and instead make us dwell upon comparing ourselves to another. This makes competition wrong (2Co 10:12).

Competition has become so commonplace in our culture that we assume it is acceptable to God in any form. Scripture does not support that position. The ideal advocated in the Bible is cooperation, agreement and unity among believers. Several metaphors are used to describe such cooperation among believers: we are a “building” with parts jointly fitted together, a “body of Christ,” a “chosen generation” and a “royal priesthood” (1Co 12:27; Eph 2:20–22; 1Pe 2:9). The bestowal of the Holy Spirit upon the early church came as those gathered came “together in one place” (Ac 2:1). The apostle Paul spoke on numerous occasions of the need for unity of spirit (Eph 4:3).

When Jesus came to visit, Mary and Martha started using their gifts of service. Mary sat at Jesus’ feet, loving and being loved by him. Martha, a practical “doer,” started preparing food and a place to rest. However, Martha looked away from her goal of serving Christ and began to evaluate Mary’s performance. Both women were serving in meaningful ways. The problem came when Martha, in her anxiety, overlooked the fact that she and her sister were both on the same team and began to sit in judgment of her sister (Lk 10:41–42).

The gifts of the Spirit are to work in harmony with one another as the Holy Spirit directs, so that the entire body of believers is built up (1Co 12:7,11–12). We are responsible for one another’s welfare; we are to pray for one another; we are called to be one-minded and to live in peace (2Co 13:11). Indeed, when arguments arise, we are to give “honor” to one another—or to defer for the sake of achieving harmony (Ro 12:10).