"Serious sport has nothing to do with fair play…it is war minus the shooting."
Being first
Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will not welcome us. 3 John 9Poor old Diotrephes! He is only mentioned once in the Bible and that is to tell us that he loves to be first!
Now I know that I am writing this for a number of athletes and of course you love to be first. Finishing first certainly beats coming last. Don’t worry, that is not what John is writing about.
His point is about life and your attitude to others. Paul writes about this several times: “In humility value others above yourselves” (Philippians 2:3) and “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ” Ephesians 5:21.
It is a hard balance to achieve. If you don’t believe you are the best and have a certain selfish streak, you are unlikely to make it to the top. At the same time as followers of Jesus we need to learn to be gracious in victory or in defeat. Or to think in training situations how our actions impact others.
We all know of people who are full of themselves and like to remind everyone that they are the Olympic Champion, world record holder or whatever. With others you could spend a lot of time with them, without ever hearing them talk about their achievements.
What would you like your epitaph to be?