Not To Be Out Done

There is this old Monty Python skit called "The Four Yorkshiremen".  There are four well to do men sitting around with brandy and cigars.  They begin reflecting on how much harder their lives had been when they were younger,  Each in turn talks about how desperate their life had been.  And in true Python style, it quickly move to the ridiculous and then to the absurd.  I understand that everyone isn't a Monty Python fan, but if you are, it is pure gold.

Many of us can't help themselves but they turn anything into a competition.   And I mean anything.  Competition is definitely not restricted to sporting events.  Who has the nicest house, the fastest car, the biggest truck, the brightest lights, the tallest tree, the most extravagant gifts.  We can even use the bad as a source of pride.  We can brag about the worst injury, the most severe sickness or the most dire situation to work out of.  It is all about outdoing each other.  

Sometimes its not about outdoing.  It's about keeping up.  One day, while teaching junior high I noticed an eighth grade girl wearing a pair of sunglasses up on her head.  I didn't think much of it, but the next day, there were three or four of them wearing sunglasses on their head.  By the end of the week, the vast majority of the eighth grade girls had sunglasses perched on their heads.  This went on for a couple of weeks, then it was over.  And it is easy to make fun of the girls, but we can all fall into the trap.  They have it so we need it.

We can see that this is no way to live, but the Bible does say that there is one place that we should try to outdo each other.  In the book of Romans, the Apostle Paul says that we should "Outdo one another in showing honor." So Paul is saying that we should take that drive inside of us that so often degenerates down to the petty and use it for a higher purpose.  Use it for grace, use it for tolerance, use it for love, use it for peace use it to show honor to those around us so that they can see the light of God through us.

Watch this clip from Pastor Chris.

Outdo one another in showing honor.  If we are looking for a competition, that would be a good one.