For people with competitive personalities, their competitiveness can get out of hand when it leads to boasting or belittling others. Some people may think the competitiveness itself is to blame and ask, is it ok for Christians to be competitive? Or is it only bad to be overcompetitive? Are there better ways to compete? In Romans 12:10, the apostle Paul gives us one example of where we should be as competitive as we possibly can:
“Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.”
When Paul says we should “outdo one another” he’s setting up a competition among believers, using a Greek word that means “to lead the way for others”[1] Paul is saying we should be trying our best to show more honor to others than others do. It’s a competition where everybody wins but doesn’t require participation trophies. We aren’t competing in worldly ways, to win honor for ourselves, but to honor others, or to esteem others as being of great value to us.
But also, I think Paul is referring to what came before in the verse: “Love one another with brotherly affection”. In this phrase, Paul combines two Greek words for love: one that means love for our figurative brothers, or people like us, and another that means love for our literal brothers, or close relatives. In the context of the church, this means to love other Christians as you love your own blood relatives. This makes sense because our Christian brothers and sisters are all permanent relations in Christ – maybe more permanent than our actual blood relatives.
Back to the full verse:
“Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.”
Together, these phrases are telling us to do our best to love our fellow Christians as well as we possibly can, competing to do it better than others and to lead by example. We are to honor them because they are Christ’s, not because we get something in return.
So, yes, its ok to be competitive. Sometimes it’s even encouraged! Consider how to outdo others in love and showing honor today. Do your best to win today.
Do you ever feel disappointed by God? Does your experience of Him sometimes not match your expectations? We might wonder where God is in our everyday lives. We may wonder whether we can really trust Him, and we’re probably more likely to feel this way when bad things happen. The Bible tells us in Romans 8:28 –
“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”
Paul (author of Romans) says he knows this, but do we always? Do we trust that good comes from “all things”? And when we don’t see good come, how do we react?
We might think good things are not happening to us because we don’t “love God” enough, so we might blame ourselves. Maybe we think that some things “just happen” and have no purpose. Maybe over time we learn to think most things are like that? We might think Paul didn’t really mean what he wrote about God.
It’s natural to want “good” things. We may want more money, a better job, better relationships, more possessions, and think that when bad things happen, it’s just a matter of time before some corresponding blessing comes along, because God is supposed to work through “all things” for our good. But when it seems like He doesn’t we might feel disappointed. What are we missing?
Could it be that the problem is with our expectations of God, not with God Himself? For example, do we misunderstand what “good” “things work together for”? Is our definition of “good” the same as His?
Think about what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 1:26 “For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.”
It is not necessarily God’s intention to make us “good” by “worldly standards.” His standards are different, and He doesn’t want us to value the worldly wisdom, which tells us it is “good” to be “powerful” or to be “noble” or even “wise” in the world’s eyes. God has more important things in mind.
So, what is the “good” that everything works towards? Paul wrote in Romans 8:29, which comes right after the earlier verse about how “all things work together for good”:
“For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” – Romans 8:29
The “good” that God works for is our conformity to the image of Christ. Not our pre-conceived definition of “good” based on our values, or the world’s. He won’t use “all things” to give us more of what the world thinks is important.
What does it mean to be conformed to the image of Jesus? In Jesus we see the perfect image of the love of God, described in 1 Corinthians 13:4-5 like this:
“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful”
So, God, through “all things,” works to make us more patient and kinder. Less envious, boastful, arrogant and rude. He makes us less insistent on our own way, and therefore less irritable and resentful.
Therefore, we might have to change what we value. We must modify our priorities. Anything that happens to us, whether we consider it “good” or not, God can use to make us more like Christ. More like the person we will be in heaven. More like the person we should want to be. Then God will not disappoint us.
“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”
Here is the list of readings for this week: 2 chapters to read per day as the main reading plan, and extra chapters for anyone who wants to read the whole Bible in 2025. I hope this encourages others to read and study their Bible more, whatever parts they decide to read.
Follow along (or not) any way you choose! Also, let me know if you’re interested in me doing this again next year with a different order of books.
2 chapter a day plan:
Monday, November 24: Hebrews 4-5 Tuesday, November 25: Hebrews 6-7 Wednesday, November 26: Hebrews 8-9 Thursday, November 27: Hebrews 10-11 Friday, November 28: Hebrews 12-13 Saturday, November 29: Ezra 1-2 Sunday, November 30: Ezra 3-4
Extra chapters for those reading the whole Bible this year: Jonah 1-4, Micah 1-5
The Old Testament book of Leviticus is probably the hardest book in the Bible for many to read. Much of it outlines, in detail, the duties of priests and Levites (the book’s name comes from this group) in worship, including the sacrificial system involving animals practiced in ancient times. However, there are many pictures of Christ embedded in these stories and rituals, one being the requirement that each individual lay their hands on any bull offered for their sin.
This is first described in Leviticus 1:3-5a – “If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer a male without blemish. He shall bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting, that he may be accepted before the LORD. He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. Then he shall kill the bull before the LORD” (emphasis mine)
Why is it so important that each person lay their hand on their sacrifice? I think there are at least 3 reasons:
First, the sacrifice is for each of us specifically and individually. Atonement is not a blanket covering everyone with no distinction – it focuses on each individual. God does not have a limited attention span, where time spent with one person takes away from time spent with another. He can, and does, focus on us all. Since He desires relationship with each person, He wants us to be aware of the need for sacrifice at individual level, as well as the connection created at an individual level.
Second, the sacrifice shows us the severity of our sin. Before a just God, no sin can go unpunished, or He would commit injustice. Only blood can atone for sin, and having each person make a personal connection with their sacrifice highlights the seriousness of our own sin, discouraging us from thinking other people’s sin is more serious than our own. Even the priests, as shown in Leviticus 8:14, had to lay their hands on their own sacrifice, showing even those who might be considered, or consider themselves, more spiritual are not exempt.
Third, nobody else can worship for us since the purpose of worship is to have a personal relationship with our Lord and Maker. It is the sacrifice that restores our relationship to God, not the priest that intermediates the sacrifice, which is highlighted by the fact that Jesus became both the sacrifice and the High Priest. Just as I can’t have a real relationship with someone only by hearing about them through someone else, I can’t have a real relationship with God through someone else’s worship. The faith of people you know – parents, friends, teachers, pastors – will do you no good. Each must have his own faith because what He wants is us.
In Leviticus we find a picture of Jesus, who lived a perfect life for us, not so that we don’t have to be perfect, but so that we can become perfect. He died for each of us, specifically, and needed to die because no other sacrifice could cover the severity of our sins before a just God. Through His sacrifice, we are adopted as members of His family, to live perfectly in Paradise for eternity.
Jesus lamented of the religious people of his day in Matthew 23:37 – “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” When He offered relationship, they insisted on religion, and missed being touched by their Maker’s hands.
One More Picture Much more recently than Leviticus was written, a similar point was made by Mel Gibson in his movie The Passion of the Christ[1]. During the scene where Jesus is being crucified, Gibson decided to film his own hands driving the spike into Christ’s hand. It is the only time Gibson appears in the film. The film’s website (since removed) said this was “symbolic of the fact that he holds himself accountable first and foremost for Christ’s death.” Gibson, in Leviticus terms, chose to “lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering.”
Yes, Jesus suffered terribly for the sin of each of us, but He willingly did it because it was needed to gather His people to Himself. “Lay your hand” on His sacrifice and thank Him that He wants to know you personally.
Amen.
[1] Gibson, Mel. The Passion of the Christ. (2004)
Everyone has probably heard the phrase “money is the root of all evil” or some variation of it. The phrase is usually directed at someone who has a lot of money by someone who doesn’t, with the implication being that the rich person is evil in some way, or many ways. It’s a phrase that might make the ones with less money feel better about themselves. At least they’re not “evil.”
However, while the phrase actually comes from the Bible (sort of), it isn’t biblical at all. The source of the phrase is 1 Timothy 6:10 but notice some important differences in the wording in the ESV translation (the NIV, NKJV, NASB, and other translations are very similar):
“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.”
The first thing to note is that in 1 Timothy, it’s “love of money” that is the problem, not just “money.” This means that it’s possible to have a lot of money and for that not to be a moral problem. As Voddie Baucham said, “Let me clear up something…God is not against you having things. He’s against things having you.” There are a lot of very generous rich people and there are a lot of good things that wouldn’t get done, in the church or otherwise, without the monetary contributions of these people. Those who have money, but don’t love it (money doesn’t have them) often put large amounts of what they have to work for God’s kingdom in many different ways. Having money doesn’t make them evil. The root of all evil is therefore something else other than money.
Also notice 1 Timothy says, “a root,” not “the root.” One means evil has one root, and the other means that there is more than one root. The wording from 1 Timothy tells us that “all kinds of evil” can grow from things other than the “love of money.” Money and the love of it are not required to make someone evil. Many things can be the “root” or source of evil in people, including in some cases the lack of money, ironically.
Lastly, 1 Timothy says, “all kinds of evils” not “all evil.” So, the “love of money” isn’t the source of all evil, but it can cause many different types of evil. Greed, covetousness, and haughtiness are some that come to mind. But also consider that the dislike of people who have money, whether they love it or not, can be the source of jealousy, envy, covetousness (which can come from having or not having money) and other “kinds of evils.”
So, what’s wrong with the saying that “money is the root of all evil”? It can have the effect of elevating greed and related sins to a higher (worse) level of sin than other sins. It can become a weapon in the hands of economic and political activists. But the 1 Timothy version doesn’t do either of these things. Instead of creating an “us vs. them” situation, with the poor on one side and the rich on the other, the Biblical text shows us that sin comes in many forms, has many causes, and that nobody is immune from sin.
Sin itself is the ultimate problem of humanity, not “love of money,” although that is one kind of sin. If “money is the root of all evil” then those who don’t love money wouldn’t need Jesus. But those who hate money are sinners too. Poor people are sinners too. They just have different faults. In the eyes of a holy God, no fault can be tolerated, because His purpose is to have a perfect humanity. The solution to our economic and political problems is not to eliminate money or the rich, but the solution is that we need a way to remove all sin so we can be reconciled to God and have a path to a sinless life. “Money is the root of all evil” may cry out for revolution, but “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils” cries out that Jesus is the only solution.
Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins is the only thing that will satisfy the requirements of our holy God, bringing us into His family and providing a way that “love of money” and all other sins can be destroyed forever.
“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils,” but “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
Driving Toward the Morning Sun 