Sunday, March 23, 2014

Competition!



                               Bowling competition
Yes, competition – happens since the beginning of time. In churches, homes, between friends and co-workers.
We have sport competitions, beauty and brain competitions, between companies and so on.

What if people stop competing with each other? Do you think that this world will stood still? Do you think that we will lose the desire to achieve for anything? I wonder....

In sports, it will not be fun at all for the competitors to play the game if they don’t have to compete for a prize.



 The same with other competitions. The desire to win the prize motivates everyone. Somehow, wishing to be the best can be enough reason for people to strive and work harder. It can also lead someone to use all kinds  of methods in order to win. Good or bad.

Winning in a competition will always be a delight and a success for the winner. But how about the loser or the second best? Heartaches, sadness or losing one’s hope? But it can also lead one to strive more and work harder, which is actually the right attitude.
Yes, we need to have the right attitude, no matter what kind of competition we are getting into.



In blog world, probably, bloggers compete with each other. I believe it is a blogger’s desire to have the most read blog and to get so many comments as many as possible.  

Why? In my situation, a comment means a lot. Having readers that leaves a mark in what I wrote means that I am connecting with somebody and that inspires me to write more. My desire of writing is to inspire of course. I hope I will not provoke somebody. 

The reason why I also read blogs is to be inspired, to get to know many wonderful people, to see places through their pictures, to be entertained and to learn more.

 However, blogging can be quite stressing and frustrating, if our motives is to compete with others than to write for the fun of writing. Getting frustrated over publishing a post that you really work hard for and not even a fly would come by and leave a mark. After that, you can see another blog that just published  one picture and there are many comments and readers. Maybe you are publishing one post every day that no one cares, while another blog haven’t publishing a long time, but still on top of the list. One can wonder….Then it is good to be reminded that it is not the end of the world and there is more in life than blogging.


Competing can lead to fatal decisions too!
In the bible, we know the story about Cain and Abel.

Genesis 4:2-8
Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.
Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”
Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.”[d] While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.¨

How about that? Cain was enraged because God was more pleased with Abel’s offering. That was tragic! Although you might say that you couldn’t do such an act. However, it happens everywhere. Competition’s negative side. Loser gets hurt and the winner gets the glory.
evilvsgood
In the spiritual world, good and bad competes too. God and evil. Both of them desires to win souls. The difference is that God’s desires to win souls to save them from destruction and to lead them to eternal life. But the evil likes to win souls to lead them to destruction. The strange thing is, most people nowadays choose the road to death because they think this path is happier and easier. Anyway, that is what they believe. But, that is not so, concerning the unhappy and destroyed lives of those that endulge to sin. Although the road to life can also lead to suffering, persecution and maybe lose one's own life, but the reward at the end is life abundantly.

 God said in the bible:

Mathew 16:26
And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?

Then what would I choose? What woukd you choose?

Although the road to life is narrow and seems to be a challenge, but I know that God goes with me and I will not be afraid. So I choose God’s path. 

Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me. Psalm 23:4

How about you?

Actually, people does not need to compete with each other in order to go to heaven or hell. It is a choice that we do. Believe God or not. The competition begins when the believers tries to reach for the lost and the unbelievers hinders that to happen at the point of killing the believers. Tragic!

Yes, the competition is ongoing whether we like it or not until we reached our final destinations.
My prayer
Father, I pray that you help us to have the right attitude when competing.
 Help us to let go when it is needed. To find rest for our souls while doing the works that you called us to do.  
To have the right motives in everything we do.
In Jesus name, I pray



Amen

20 comments:

  1. I take it that one was born to stride against the other, but what is essential that one is able to accept that in a competition it's not the prize that we shall take but rather it's the good experience that we have in competing with the other. Sportsmanship! Isn't that great?

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    Replies
    1. Yes, you are right fallenrhainnes. The experience in achieving the goal is worth having:)
      Have a nice day!

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  2. Flott påminning!
    Vi er blandt anna skapt for å sjå kvarandre og vert glad når nokon ser oss.
    Det er kjekt når nokon tek seg tid og bryr seg om å kommentere.
    For ein legg litt arbeid ned i blogginga sjølv om det er hobby og ikkje yrke.
    Men viss det kun var for kommentarane si skuld så trur eg ikkje at eg hadde blogga så lenge som eg har gjort (5år til sommaren). Det å ha kontakt med alle desse flotte medbloggerane er positivt, sjølv om det er eit fåtal eg kenner personleg.

    Ha vakker søndag Joy og takk for alt DU deler :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Takk for ditt din kommentar. Det varmer mitt hjerte.
      ja, jeg nærmer meg i den tredje året på blogging. Og jeg synes at livet mitt er blitt rikere:)

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  3. Competition can be so hurtful. I don't like it, unless it is an intentional game, where both people are doing it for fun.

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  4. In competitions, sometimes it doesn't have to be a prize. That mainly motivates everyone. I'm highly competitive in games of skill even if the only prize is pride

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    Replies
    1. Yes, we are well competing for different reasons Adam:)

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  5. We tend to be jealous of other's success without making hard effort by ourselves. And there are many bad luck or cold-hearted in ourlife. So positive thinking save us,I wonder?
    Have a lovely week!

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    Replies
    1. Yes, Sarah. To be positive is always the best. No matter what.
      Thanks for visiting:)

      Delete
  6. Takk for kommentarer på min blogg!
    Jeg setter stor pris på besøk fra deg!
    Bønnen din er vakker og rører ved mange strenger i meg.

    Eva Jorunn

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  7. Tusen takk Eva Jorunn. Artig å vite navnet ditt:)

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  8. I have never been competitive, that's one of the reasons why I didn't attain much in life. Maybe I just haven't found something worth fighting for, I'm not really sure. Given this, it is always sad whenever I join a contest (since I don't really join many of them) and not win.

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    Replies
    1. Nakakapagod makipag compete Marjorie. Kaya, it is better to be ourselves and just enjoy the ride:)

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  9. Totoo Mami. Other people are very competitive here in blogosphere that they lose the very essence of why they started blogging in the first place. Good at healthy competition dapat.

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  10. Hello Mommy Joy, when I was new in the blogosphere, I was in the competition mode too. But later on I realized I'm only fooling myself kaya I paced myself and wrote about things close to my heart. Hirap din magisip ng topics, lol. Enjoy!

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    Replies
    1. Oo nga Farida. Better not to compete coz we have different gifts. We should instead inspires each other:)

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  11. I like to challenge myself but I don't like to compete with others. Nasa isip ko kasi iba-iba yung kakayahan natin but I get inspired and get motivated easily. Great post!:)

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    Replies
    1. Thanks melgie. Best is to do our best, competition or not:)

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Thanks for dropping by and your comments are very well appreciated. It is like a cold glass water in a warm sunny day! Blessings.

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