I’m guessing the title of this article grabbed your attention, and you are thinking – what is this Bozo talking about? I like to do a play on words, and this title actually means the opposite of what it seems to imply as you will see.
This article is all about “comparisons.” The dictionary definition of compare is estimate, measure or note the similarity or dissimilarity between. Comparing is actually a “shadow” of a type of sin. It’s our sin nature that brings on comparisons. Why is that and when did that start?
God’s plan for mankind since our beginning is that we live with God forever and He takes care of all of us and provides our every need. That’s the way it was in the Garden of Eden until Adam and Eve disobeyed God and sinned by eating the forbidden fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
“Everything” changed for the worse in that moment. Our relationship with God was broken. Sin not only entered into Adam and Eve but entered into all of the earth and all of the universe, and God will not dwell where there is sin; thus, we will remain physically separated from God while we inhabit earth. In Gen 3:17 God told Adam, “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life.” And to Eve he said, “I will sharply increase your pain in childbirth; in pain you will bring forth children. You will desire your husband, and he will rule over you.”
From that point on, all of mankind was on its own; and every person must fend for themselves in terms of providing for themselves in whatever financial system there is plus food, material things and getting through life. Everything is now “our” responsibility for ourselves instead of God’s responsibility.
The first sin ever committed was by Lucifer when he decided with his own free will that he wanted to be like God, and focused on himself instead of God; and that is “pride.” Adam and Eve’s sin was also pride in that they wanted to be like God in terms of knowing good “and” evil. Pride is focusing on yourself FIRST and others last. Love is focusing on others FIRST and yourself last.
What happens when every person on the planet has to provide for themselves in order to get through life? Competition happens, which produces comparisons. When we all are competing against everyone else in terms of providing for ourselves and our families, we are all in a type of competition, which produces “comparisons.” It is only natural to compare how we are doing against others; and when we see others who seem to be doing so much better than we are, it produces envy and jealousy and discontentment for most people.
ALL of sports is obviously about competition – who is the best, etc. We all love winners and desire to be winners if possible. Winning is something we are all proud of, and we take “pride” in being better than others. Is this bad? Sort of, but only in an “earthly” sense. Let me explain; and even though this applies to just about everything, let me keep this focused mainly on sports right now since we all can relate to it easier. In competition, we want to win. We are happier that we are winners than if we are losers. We are “comparing.” Being winners and the best produces, whether we know it or not, a sense of superiority. A winning sports team has a sense of feeling superior to other sports teams simply by just being the best, whether they think about it in those terms or not. It’s all part of our human nature.
So here is a good question: Are there sports in heaven? And is there competition in heaven? If so, are there any differences? I will answer that in a moment, but first let’s talk about how comparisons relate to being content or discontented.
There is an old saying. When you ask a super wealthy person how much is enough, their answer is always “just a little bit more.” That, by definition, is not contentment. One definition of contentment is a true peace of mind and has absolutely nothing to do with any external pleasure or condition, but rather your attitude. So true contentment is actually “peace” on steroids. I create bumper sticker slogans from time to time, and one of them is “Try contentment. You will not find it wanting.”
As human beings, we all desire peace, joy and contentment. When we are comparing and it affects our attitude, then we are not content and we are not at true peace. As born-again Christians, we all desire to LOVE like Jesus loves. Love is putting others first. Love is “giving.” We all know it is more blessed to give than to receive. When we walk with the Lord and love others like He desires us to do, He blesses us with joy and peace and contentment.
Human nature says, if I just had X number of dollars I would be happy and content; but we all know there are many, many wealthy people who are never happy and content. They want more. They fear they might lose what they have; thus, peace and contentment eludes them. On the other hand, there are many, many people in the middle to lower income ranges who are full of peace, joy and contentment – especially born-again Christians.
Only God can bring the “ultimate peace” that the world can never understand due to our personal relationship with Him and knowing we belong to Him now and forever. The world does not have that. Doing things God’s way means when and even “if” we compare ourselves to others, we are not at all discontented but actually happy for those who have more. And “that” explains how if there are sports in heaven, it is different from here on earth.
In heaven we are all connected to God in a small way through the Holy Spirit. That means we will never sin in heaven with our free will because God would never sin. We will be able to “love” like God loves, and that type of love does not “compare” in any kind of negative way. If we play sports and lose, we will be happy for the winners.
The Bible tells us that at the Judgment Seat of Christ, we will all be judged in heaven to see what “rewards” we will receive for those things we do for the Lord here on earth, and we know there are different levels of responsibility in heaven. Some will have “more” than others in different areas. BUT the huge difference between heaven and earth is those who have less in heaven will not feel slighted or disappointed in any way. This is because we are all connected in God’s unique way, and every person’s love for everyone else will be off the charts compared to the way we love now on earth with a sinful nature.
For us Christians, our sinful nature only goes away when we no longer have a sinful body. Our sin nature comes from the “seed of man” (Gen 3:15), and that means our whole body is what is sinful – not our soul and not our eternal spiritual body we receive when we die or are raptured.
Also, in heaven and eternity, God will provide ALL of our needs and desires like He planned to with Adam and Eve. We will no longer need to “compete” to be responsible for ourselves. We will all love one another and have God’s peace, joy and contentment – not only for ourselves but for everyone else, too. God alone is responsible for “everything,” and it just cannot get any better than that. Earthly comparison is over; thus, Heaven does not compare to earth.
Maranatha!
David Cogburn