Competitive Christian?

Is that an oxymoron?

Is being competitive a sin?

When you compete you want to beat someone. Is that okay?

Sports require competition. Period. You can't have sports without it.

But with competition often comes pride; lifting yourself higher than others. Pride is a sin. Pride is not of the Lord. So can a Christian really compete?

These are the kinds of questions that have been running through my head. What does it mean to be humble, do sports for God's glory, but also be a fierce competitor?

I think there is a fine line between being competitive and being prideful. I think there is a place for competition. There has to be. There is a place for sports in a God glorifying Christian lifestyle and sports require competition. If there wasn't any competition in sports, they would be pointless. You play for a final result. There are others reasons as well, but if at the end, if there isn't a team that wins and a team that doesn't, what is the point of the game?

I've been struggling with this as I've been mentally preparing for Conference. It starts tomorrow! Crazy. I don't dive until Friday afternoon.

But for me, sports is 95% mental. For real. There is strength and technique in diving and pole vaulting, but so much of that has to do with the way you think. Confidence is a big thing for me. I have to be confident in my dives and vaults. I have to know that I know what I'm doing. I've done it before. A million times. As meets unfold this is something I am constantly coaching myself through. The second I doubt myself and my abilities, my hurdle messes up or my step gets off.

A huge part of sports is what you believe you can accomplish. I have to go into Friday's meet knowing that I have the ability to make it to Nationals. Yes, this is absolutely a God given ability. It is not through me and my efforts, but what he has done and can do through me. I have to go in, knowing that there are girls that I can beat. That's how the mental game of sports goes.

If you come to a race and while standing at the starting line, look to the athlete next to you and think, "your better than me and are going to beat me" you have just given that person the victory. There is no way you could beat them going into it with that kind of mindset. So where does humility fit in?

With this, I'm really not quite sure. I feel like it depends on how you see humility. Is it making yourself less to others? Lifting others above yourself? Or does it really just come down to your relationship with the Lord? Do we just need to be humble before the Lord and that will end up coming out in the way we live? I don't know. I've been wrestling with this for the past couple weeks. I've talked to a lot of people and still feel like I haven't found an answer that captures all of it.

If humility is making myself less in regards to others, it is really hard to pair that with a confident attitude. It also seems to lessen who we are in God's eyes. Who he has created us to be. He didn't create us to have everyone become less than the people around them. If that were the case we wouldn't have bold confidence. Leaders would be scarce. We are supposed to celebrate in the people God has created us to be. Not for our glory, but for His. God has given me talent. He has given me this absolute love for sports. He has given me the discipline and determination to go to practice day in and day out. I am to use these gifts! Not in pride, in humility. But what does that look like?

If humility is having confidence in yourself, but putting others ahead of you, then we come back again to the idea of thinking others will be better than you in sports as well. Maybe that is bad logic, I made a couple jumps, but hopefully you get the idea...

And then if humility is just between us and God, what does that look like to others? We are to pursue humility. When we say that someone is humble, it is not because they are always humble, but because they actively pursue humility (information courtesy of the sister:)) So what does actively pursuing humility look like while being a strong competitor?

I think its a pretty complicated question and I don't have the answer. Insights are gladly appreciated.

Sorry if that was boring and complicated. Just a rant I had to go on...