Forget competition, embrace love

September 13, 2007

By Gary Rogers

This summer Tiger Woods came to Tulsa, Okla., to play in the PGA tournament and became the 21st person to shoot a 63 at a major championship. I am not a golfer, but I’m told this is very good. Two other players who were playing alongside Woods weren’t even close to competing with him, but both said that they were just happy to be close enough to watch him in action.

Bob Tway said, “He just makes it look easy. Once he gets going, what do you say? That’s why it’s fun for me to watch him play and be up close because I get to see how it’s done.” Tway was an Oklahoma State player who won the PGA in 1986 and now lives in Edmond. He went on to say, “It’s great just to watch and see how the best player who ever played, I think, plays it.”

This type of admiration for a peer catches my attention. For one person to show such respect and awe of a competitor reveals an esteem rarely seen. As Christians we should conduct our lives so others will hold us in esteem for our consistent example of Christ. When words of admiration are shared, competition is silenced. Jealousy and envy are destroyed.

“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds” (Hebrews 10:24, NIV).

Gary Rogers is senior pastor of First Assembly of God in Coweta, Okla.

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“God will provide even though we may not see it today. God’s most important work can take place underground with very little help from us. In fact, it may have nothing to do with us.”

“One Letter, a Changing College,” Don Meyer
Today’s Pentecostal Evangel, September 9, 2007

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