Alva Review-Courier -

In high school, my world revolved around the game of tennis. Looking back, I was a reasonably good player, but I attended a very large high school (the size of 5A schools, these days) so the competition was very tough in our district. In fact, we played one of the strongest programs in the state of Texas as part of our regular schedule. I would love to report that we always came away victorious, but that would be a lie. My game would certainly rise to new levels when we played Highland Park, but we never quite came out on top.

Sure, there were lots of teams we could beat. In fact, my doubles partner and I kept track of our summer matches one year and found that we had won 52 out of 56 matches we played. I even collected a few “dust catchers” (trophies) from tournaments around the area. On those occasions, I might have even managed a brag or two (or ten) about just how great a player I really was. Which brings me to one of my mother’s quotable quotes: “No matter how good you get, there will always be someone better.” Period. Full stop. Thanks for coming.

Sorry, Mom, but as one who comes up short SOME of the time, I prefer to compare myself to those who come up short MOST of the time. I find the quickest way to feel better about myself is to compete with someone who is really pathetic. In fact, my favorite bumper sticker of all time was on an old VW van behind which I was stuck in traffic. The sticker read “I may be slow, but I’m ahead of you!”

Paul had a better handle on things than yours truly. Here’s what he had to say about some competitive Christians in Corinth:

“We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise. We, however, will not boast beyond proper limits, but will confine our boasting to the sphere of service God himself has assigned to us, a sphere that also includes you” (1 Corinthians 10:12-13).

See you Sunday.