Competitive creatures aren't we - in almost everything we do we compete. When our sons were growing up the youngest always wanted to play with his older brother's friends. Since he was two and a half years younger - he had to exert extra effort to be accepted by the older youth and in striving for their acceptance - he became very competitive. Everything he wanted to do had to be done on a competitive level since he was younger and physically smaller. It didn't matter if it was school work or sports or just goofing off around the house - competition became a way of life for him. His efforts paid off and he was accepted by the older youth and in the process he also made himself a very good student and athlete. Today you can see all different levels of competition in almost anyplace you look. It is no longer limited to the playing field but also in the work arena and the market place. All of us strive to excel - all of us work at trying to be the greatest in every field imaginable - because that is what is expected of us.
In Saint Paul's letter to Timothy (2 Timothy 4:7) he wrote "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." He was referring to the fact that he was in chains and it looked like his life would soon end. Even as he had competed with the weakness of men and their lack of faith he was now fighting the race against time - the time he would have left to fulfill his desire to serve God. He knew he wasn't the greatest - he knew he had faults - in spite of his shortcomings he still exerted his energies not to preserving his life - but to proclaiming the message about the One - the One worth proclaiming - the One who was to come - the One who makes everything right - the One who is the Greatest One of all - Jesus.
Deacon Dale
Deacon Dale
