Everyone has some kind of competitive edge. Whether it’s for a sports team or grades, there is something that makes you tick the way you do.

When I think about competition, I think sports. In sports coaches take a group of talented people with the same interest and place them in positions strategically to get winning results.

When I sat down and thought about the world today, I realized it is full of competitive people. Our world strives to be the best we can be, whether we run people over in the process. Nancy Lopez says, “A competitor will find a way to win. Competitors take bad breaks and use them to drive themselves just that much harder. Quitters take bad breaks and use them as reasons to give up. It’s all a matter of pride.” I agree with her when she says, “It’s all a matter of pride.”

As Christians we need to strive to be the best, but the best in Christ’s eyes – not the world’s. When we strive to be the  best in the world’s eyes, we fall into being prideful. We also need to learn from the trials or bad breaks and use them to drive us to become more like Christ. We should not take the trials we face and use them as excuses to give up becoming more like Christ.

How do we do this? I believe we need to remind ourselves in a trial that there is a greater reason for what we are facing, even if we don’t always see it right away.

So don’t get discouraged by the trials God gives you. Use them to become more like Him and to help others when they face the same trial.