The Greatest Competitor of All Time
In 1 Kings 18, the prophet Elijah PACKED HOUSE sets up a contest between his God — the God of Israel — and Baal, the god of the Caananites who has come to dominate the landscape of Israel through the failings of Israel’s kings. Numerically, it is 1 vs. 450; but it’s also 1 real prophet vs. 450 fake prophets, and 1 with great confidence vs. 450 who soon become “greatly distressed.” As a prophet, Elijah knows that his God will show up. In this instance, God not only competes in order to reveal that he is the only true God, but he also competes in order to call his people back into the beautiful story of life with him.
Baal is known to his followers as the sun-god, or a god of heat. He has brought great riches to the (Phoenician empire). Many in Israel have turned to him with hope for the good life. It is no irony that Elijah sets up a contest where the real divinity must make fire. Surely a god like Baal who is so closely related to the sun and heat can make a small fire happen. Instead, the 450 prophets fail to conjure up their god. They shout louder and even harm themselves in order to make amends for any wrongdoing with Baal. In a profound and ironic act, Elijah douses his altar with water and still manages to get God to bring a fire. An epic showdown was no contest at all. The 450 prophets could not get fire from their god. One true prophet of the true God is able to miraculously bring fire to an altar that is soaking wet.
What is the point of this competition? It t is, like most acts of God in the Bible, to call God’s beloved back to himself. Unlike other gods in the New and Old Testaments, God does not need to win or feel powerful for the sake of self-promotion. God is being faithful to his promise to bless the nations by drawing his people to himself for the flourishing of humans and all creation. Israel is in a dire place in its history because of its own disobedience and moral failings, yet God is still acting out of love and is calling them back to be who they were made to be.
Most people compete for personal glory — identity, power, status, prizes, etc. God competes in order to win our hearts. He is angry, jealous, and passionate, but for all of the right reasons. I have been saying that God competes, but is it better to say that when God competes, God loves? What if we redefined competition to be expressions of love? To compete would not be about relativizing who we are to someone else, but it would be an expression of our love. We can express how deeply we care about the sport, about our teammates, about those who have come around us in order to let us play, etc. Losing would mean something different altogether.
If this is true, God is the greatest competitor of all time. He runs after us. He pursues us. He does not rest. He never quits. Perhaps God as “Competitor” is a relevant name for God in our twenty-first-century, Western world. People can relate to that. But what underlines this notion (in the way that Jesus loves to do in his Gospels) is God turns the twenty-first-century idea of competition upside down. Why? He is not competing for himself. He is competing for the hearts of everyone in the world. He is competing in order to restore what was lost, redeem what is broken, and renew his plans for all of creation. And, he is winning. From a tiny nation among empires in the Old Testament and a tiny pack of 12 disciples in the New Testament, God’s love is now known throughout the world.
Since the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was placed in the garden, God has been competing for us. Since God called Abraham away from Ur and placed a ram in Isaac’s place, God has been competing for us. Since Joseph’s brothers left him for dead, God has been competing for us. Since Moses was sent down the Nile in a basket and led his people out of Egypt, God has been competing for us. Since Israel turned their back on him and left all to ruin, God has been competing for us. Since a Davidic king, prophet, and priest was needed in the flesh to be a servant, a living sacrifice for what we could not do, God has been competing for us. Since Jesus healed, preached, and brought life to the lifeless, God has been competing for us. Since Jesus hung on a tree outside the city gates, God has been competing for us. Since Jesus defeated death and appeared to his disciples, God has been competing for us. Since the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost and allowed for God’s presence to be in all who believe, God has been competing for us. Since Paul journeyed throughout much of the world and fought the good fight, God has been competing for us. Since John saw a great vision of heaven coming down to earth, God has been competing for us. He will not stop competing for us.
How does God compete? With a purpose. With others in mind. With love. With desire. With understanding of what is good. With no selfish motives.
Personal Reflection (Zac):
When I was at my best, I was playing because I loved to play tennis and it felt awesome to be on a team and be part of something bigger than myself. It felt like an honor and a challenge. At my worst, I was competing because I needed to earn a place in this world. Tennis was my best talent. I got recognition for it and it made me feel good when I was successful. My problem was that I competed too much in the unhealthy part of that spectrum. When things were going well with tennis, I ignored God and his call to a more obedient, moral life. The status and pride I felt led me to ignore God and seek things of this life that were neither eternal nor good for me. In short, my back injury was a humbling invitation to rethink who I was made to be. It was through this struggle that I found God’s presence to be kind, loving, strong, and affirming. I did not need to compete to be loved by him.
From this crossroads, I learned what to value and how to live a life more closely aligned to God’s design for us. As a result, I found that God was shaping me to be a competitor in his own paradigm. I wanted to love others well through real relationships — mostly found through teaching, coaching, and mentoring. I wanted to make a difference in people’s lives and give a voice to those who have longed to be heard. I wanted to join God in his mission to serve and love the world.
Competing takes a proper amount of training, discipline, mental toughness, passion, and rest. More than anything, it is important to know the prizes we are after. Some of us need to start with the basics. Why are we competing? I would suggest that if it is to be better than other people then we need to find better goals. In a related way, seeking approval or affirmation through competition is a dangerous game of high highs and low lows.
Most importantly, we need to know what it means to be successful. Normally a coach can define this for us, given his or her assessment of what is possible with our talents and limitations. In a similar but much more profound way, God reveals to us what it means to live a good life. Why? It’s simple. He created us and designed us to be fully alive in a certain kind of way. The Bible reveals to us that a life well lived starts with knowing how great the person and character of God is, that he created us out of love, and that he intended for us to be in His presence at all times.