no competition

Today, while having lunch at a restaurant, my waiter mentioned that his birthday was next week. He seemed to be pretty bummed about the timing of his birthday, for he mentioned in passing what a terrible time to have one. I wished him a happy birthday and thought that would be the end of it. However, his next comment startled me. He said, “who can compete with Jesus?”
In essence, he was admitting that it was a terrible time to have a birthday-a time when people normally celebrate YOU, because this is the time of year when everyone was celebrating Jesus-and who can compete with Jesus. He is so right. I immediately stopped and said, “you are right, NO ONE compares with Jesus.” And my next thought was, no one COMPETES with Him either. He WINS-hands down, every time.
I have been thinking about that all afternoon. No one compares to Jesus. No one competes with Jesus. People may try. People may even try to get you to make less of Him so they can be more in your life. People may try to deter and keep the focus on them, but in essence when they do they are stealing from Him, what is rightfully His. People may try to make a competition with time, money, affection and energy-but though people may try to compete with Jesus, nothing compares and therefore HE will win every time. To try and compete, puts you in the loser’s seat EVERY time.
We spend life thinking life should be about celebrating us. But in essence, we were created to make much of Him. We don’t do that by making much of self or by demanding that others make much of us. So, while I am sorry the young man feels like he is competing with Jesus, I am glad he understands that no one can win that competition with him. Perhaps, we all need to be reminded. Life just isn’t about celebrating us…it is about HIM.
ALL FOR YOU