Outdoing one another
In the old days when Al Stewart used to be fit and I used to run ahead of him, he used to say how competitive I was. Or it may be that I used to complain how competitive he was; I can't remember now. All we were doing was going for our daily 12 km run, and he hated losing. Me, I didn't mind losing. But I didn't enjoy coming second, and there were only two of us.
So I had this trick on certain days when he wasn't feeling so good, and it involved running just fast enough that, about the three-quarter mark, his stomach would give out and we would mutually enjoy a visual reprise of what Al had already enjoyed for dinner the night before. That left both of us in great shape for the breakfast Mrs Stewart would have waiting for us upon our sweaty return.
Years later, it occurs to me what a wonderful rebuke Romans 12:10 is to people like Al. Notice the nature of the competition: “Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honour.” (emphasis mine).
What's that you say? That I could have listened to this verse a bit more carefully also? That Mrs Stewart actually defeated both of us in the ‘showing honour’ stakes just by feeding us breakfast?
Well, okay. But at least, 25 years later, we still work on the first half of that verse. (Me a bit better than you, I think, Al, though I wouldn't want to make too big a thing of it.)
You sound just like Christian and Faithful as they come out of the Valley of the Shadow of Death in “Pilgrim’s Progress”. Christian wants to show how much better he is at this whole pilgrimage thing, runs past Faithful, and falls flat on his face. You’re Christian, by the way. Except for the face falling. It sounds like Al did that bit. It’s a pity that life, unlike literature (or Proverbs) doesn’t always measure out perfect justice.
Gordon,
Thanks for your post.
Just thinking through what it might look like in church.
Would it be right to think that showing honour is the same as showing respect? Does it mean to be a servant? Treat as more important?
Di
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