Others Centered

#7 As the Last

If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last

This statement goes so completely against human nature, especially for those us of who live in America. America is driven by competition, who can be the first, who can be the best.

While competition itself is not necessarily bad, Erwin argues in this chapter that it does not have a place in the body of Christ. That is not to say Christians can’t get together and play games, he is speaking specifically within the context of how we treat each other, how we present ourselves to non-believers, how we operate within the body.

For competition, there has to be a winner and a loser and typically a prize at the end given to those who defeat their opponents. The ultimate prize of Christianity is Heaven and eternity. The goal is to grow spiritually as we mature as believers so there is no real way to measure who is winning. If a Christian who is older and wiser and more mature in their faith says to another, “fellow believer, I am much better than you in these areas and I am winning” I would say that they have a pretty big issue with pride. Our job as mature believers is to go to those who may be less mature in our faith or struggling with issues and love them as Jesus did with the motivation of building them up.

That goes against everything competition is about. If you were playing a football game, it wouldn’t work well if you stopped during a play to help an opponent up after slipping in the turf or taking time to explain to the defense how they could better defend against a certain formation. Your goal is to cause the other team to stumble or confuse their defense so they can’t defend your offense.

The body of Christ will not do well if all of the members were trying to outdo each other.