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Is it
possible to engage in sports without becoming overly competitive? Certain
sports foster aggressive activity but others like ping pong seem to be less
aggressive. What about playing board games such as “Monopoly” or
“Trivial Pursuit” or various card games?
 n regard to whether
sports and games interfere with living a holy
life, the issue isn’t aggression, it’s competition. Because
all games are a form of competition to
one degree or another, listen, then, to what Saint Paul tells us:
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Do nothing out
of selfishness or out of vainglory; rather, humbly regard others as more
important than yourselves, each looking out not for his own interests, but
everyone for those of others. |
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—Philippians 2:3-4 |
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Consequently, theological writers
have been saying for ages that each person must fight the
spiritual battle in his own heart, without regard
for what others do. If you’re always comparing yourself to
others—whether at work or in recreation—you will either be feeling
inferior and jealous or superior and proud. Only when you stop concerning
yourself with what others are doing can you be truly humble.
It cannot be
said more simply or more clearly:
Competition is fundamentally opposed to
love. |
Something Very
Right about Humility
So let’s not waste time
arguing about whether there is anything “wrong” with this game
or that game—as if there were some secret pleasure in it that we have
to pretend we don’t want while in the depths of our hearts we secretly
crave it; this sort of self-deception only leads to a puritanical attitude,
which is a heresy.
The point here is that there
is something very, very right about
humility as a core aspect of Christianity. Christ
calls us to die to ourselves—to set aside our
pride—so that we can focus on the real problem:
ourselves. Anything that uses competition to develop our talents misses the
point; our talents should be developed to serve God. Instead of always thinking
about how to “rack up points” for ourselves at the expense of others,
we should open our hearts to genuine concern for others.
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Imagine playing
ping-pong without hitting the ball back, so that the other person can accumulate
all the points he wants. Imagine playing bridge without doing anything to
obstruct the other players in claiming all the points they want. Imagine
two teams of men joyfully walking from one end of a field to the other, helping
each other to accumulate all the touchdowns they want. In the eyes of the
world, it would be boring, wouldn’t it? Well, in the eyes of the world,
Christianity is boring. That’s why the Roman Empire made a
sport out of killing Christians: it made Christianity
into something exciting. |
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Now, games such as golf, when
played noncompetitively (in reference to your own best score, not in reference
to the score of any other person), and physical activities such as hiking,
running, skiing, and bicycle riding, when done noncompetitively, can promote
a sense of self-discipline, so they can be good in that sense—as long
as they do not fall into the trap of vainglory.
How Will You
Explain It?
Just remember one thing though.
Someday you will have to stand before Christ, and, as he scrutinizes your
record in the Book of Life, he will say, “What’s this? I
was cold and hungry with no place to lay my head, and you were in Palm Springs,
at a fancy resort, in opulence and luxury, playing golf and eating gourmet
food, for no other purpose than personal pleasure? How do you explain
that?”
Well, how will you explain
it?
So, if you do spend money on
games and entertainment (resorts, sports equipment, user fees, transportation
costs), then be sure to donate at the very least an equal amount of money
to charity. That donation won’t make up for any neglect of your own
spiritual development, but it will pay some of
the cost of your failure to spend the time
praying for the poor souls who have no one to
pray for them.
No
advertising—no sponsor—just the simple truth . . .
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