Rivalry is unhealthy

 There is nothing wrong with competing with the aim of winning in sports, athletics etc, but it should never be done out of rivalry. Philippians 2:3 says "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others."

In a race only one person wins and recieves the prize. In life, we are all at different levels and taking different "lanes". The spirit of jealous competion makes one dissapointed when another person wins. No wonder we have heard of Soccer fans/team players who commit suicide when their "teams lose". Personally, I have trained myself never to be emotionally distressed/overexcited because of either excelling or seemingly failing in life "things" One day our school didn't do so well though we had done our very best in preparing the students. So our principal asked me how i was feeling about our performance and he was so surprised when I said" I feel nothing" Truly I was feeling nothing. If one does their very best but are not at the top of the human rankings, I believe they are still head & not tail according to God's ranking. They are still above only according to God's standards. But people are socialised from a young age to have very unhealthy competition. This sadly, has brought competition even in church. There are people who even fast & pray to get "blessings" that God never gave them. Others are so sad when onother person testifies about their "successes" before them.

A lady once told me that her class 6 son who usually performs excellently in class will normally have serious headaches and keep knocking his head against an object when he becomes number 2 in Math second to another boy in their class. The only time he is okay is when he is the one leading. This parent thinks this behaviour is okay but this is very wicked competition. If she doesn't train her son to have healthy competition, the boy will one day practice the same in the company he will work for. No wonder people wickedly undercut one another in businesses, work place etc. Who says one has to be number 1 in class to be at peace? What about those who occupy the last position? Are they not humans? If the grade they got is the best they could get, then they are still head & not tail. Friends, let's kick out this ungodly competition from our society & raise a generation that does not do things out of rivalry & selfish ambition.