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It's not a Contest to "Be the Best" - but It Is a Race
It's not a contest against other Christians (or unbelievers) who are all trying to be "first in heaven" but it is a race we must run with endurance, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, (who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.)
We are not saved by our own behavior and we never could be. And I am aware that some Christians really do see it as some sort of "be-good game" with a mentality not much more advanced than my 3-year-old daughter. Don't get me wrong, I think it's wonderful that at such a tender age she is beginning to recognize right and wrong, modest and immodest, sharing and not-sharing, and to care about things like attendance and lack thereof or things in the Bible and not in the Bible. But to her child's mind it is still just playing a game and I deeply hope that as she matures she grows beyond that to a genuine understanding of what the Gospel really means. As I noted earlier, some Christians have failed to progress beyond such a childish perception of righteousness.
But while recognizing that faith is not a game of "who is best at following the rules" we also must know that faith cannot be separated from obedience. It's not about who's being the "MOST modest," certainly. But we don't respond to that by being as close to immodest as we can get, do we?
We don't "win the game" by going to all the church services, but we certainly don't strive for the prize by going to as few as possible do we?
We certainly shouldn't say "thank you that I'm not the tax collector" but ... that is because we are the tax collector. We are the unworthy one, who without God's grace would be lost and condemned with no recourse. If I recall his attitude was not to assert "It's not a contest" but rather to acknowledge his own failings and penitently plead for mercy.
"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.
Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize."
