Day 31 – The Price of Judging and Competing
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Instead of asking, "Am I getting enough?" How about asking, "Am I giving enough?" When we are in a GIVING mindset instead of a GETTING mindset, everything changes.
Our inability to change our lens leads us to a competitive mentality. We perceive the world as not having enough resources to share. We fight our way to access more resources and benefits. We see everyone along the way as rivals who threaten us instead of companions who build us up.
But in God's Creation, there is only abundance, nothing good is lacking.
This widens rather than constrains our minds, hearts and spirit. How we see things really matters!
The common belief is that COMPETITION leads to improvement. However, it cannot be achieved without a huge price. As we strive to outperform others, we get into a competitive mindset. That fosters egocentrism and selfishness that puts us into a FIGHTING mode instead of a SHARING and COLLABORATIVE mode, which results in huge negative consequences. It causes division rather than promote unity, which threatens to tear our human fabric apart in the long run. That is why the more advanced our society is, the faster the pace of development, the more crooked our morality and spirituality are. This applies to both individual and collective or social structural levels.
On a personal level, in order to get ahead and to prove that we are superior, we are inclined to deflate others in order to inflate ourselves. We take every opportunity to engage ourselves in activities like gossiping, judging others, putting down or speaking ill of others.
Satan keeps raising its ugly head in every circumstance of our daily lives. We often fall into the temptation warned against by Jesus that we tend to notice the speck in other’s eyes but not perceive the wooden beam in our own (Matthew 7:3). We become impatient; we refuse to listen; and we jump to conclusions. The underlying factors of this mentality and behavior originate from PRIDE.
Pride arises when we do not know our IDENTITY and our BELOVEDNESS and worthiness in God's eyes.
Judgment is the trap the elder son has fallen into, which entrapped the Pharisees in Jesus’ time as well. Judging blinds our minds, corrupts our spirit, and robs our hearts of the ability to be merciful to others.
"If you judge people, you have no time to love them." – Mother Teresa
REFLECTION
Do you often perceive people as rivals or threats rather than friends and collaborators?
How competitive are you and how merciful are you? Are these compatible with each other?
TODAY'S PRAYER
I ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen!
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
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Often we gossip judging others, putting down or speaking il of others but forgetting we are like others in our defects. Jesus, help me to be merciful in my eyes, my words, thoughts and actions towards others.
For many years, I have been asking this question of ‘am I getting enough?’ It was only when I felt I had enough did I start to ask ‘am I giving enough?’ Oh Lord, please help me to be more observant as to what others really need instead of just giving out what I don’t need!