Humility over Pride

By: Grace Metzger

Let nothing be done through selfish
ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind
let each esteem others better than himself.
Philippians 2:3

I am a extremely competitive, which is not something I say proudly. I’ve always known this fact about myself. I remember being 8 years old and hiding my Uno cards in my sister’s hoodie so that way I wouldn’t lose. I wasn’t able to stand the idea of someone beating me. I didn’t like that someone was better than me at something, even with it being as trivial as Uno. As I got older I realized I never lost that part of me.

Competition and wanting to do your best aren’t bad in itself. However, these things can quickly turn to bad things when you allow it to start changing your behavior or attitude towards others. It can make you start to form a resentment to others just because you see them as competition to you. How do you stop this from happening? Well I found the best way to avoid this is humility. By making yourself humble you stop trying to view yourself as better then others but understand that you are not more important than others. 

Humility isn’t easy. It can be a daily struggle, as all the best things are. In Colossians 3:12 it reminds us of the characteristics God wants us to have, “Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and dearly loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.” I don’t know about you but when I’m competing with someone I don’t have much compassion, kindness, gentleness, patience, or especially humility.

All of you clothe yourselves with humility
toward one another, because God resists the
proud but gives grave to the humble.
1 Peter 5:5

Competition is prideful, it’s trying to show that you are the best and that no one is above you. But the Bible talks about how much God detests the proud. He knows that pride gets you nowhere. It’s like the saying “you catch more flies with hungry than vinegar.” Being prideful, competitive, or boastful isn’t going to help bring people to Christ. But having a humble, graceful, and kind heart can help open those doors with people. 

God wants us to set aside our prideful competitions and show that we are not better then others. We should be building others up. We are all God’s children and should be treating each other as such. 

Discussion Questions:

1.) Have you struggled with competitiveness lately?

2.) How do you feel when people beat you at something?