Ecclesiastes 9: 11-12

11 I have seen something else under the sun:

The race is not to the swift
or the battle to the strong,
nor does food come to the wise
or wealth to the brilliant
or favor to the learned;
but time and chance happen to them all.
12 Moreover, no one knows when their hour will come:
As fish are caught in a cruel net,
or birds are taken in a snare,
so people are trapped by evil times
that fall unexpectedly upon them. nor knowledge nor wisdom.

Today’s title is “competition or compassion”

There's fierce competition among men in this world. We take it as undeniable fact of life. So we try to train ourselves and our children to compete with others and win from a very early age. Someone called it the survival of the fittest. He says that only who proves to fit in the world survive like in the animal kingdom. What do you think? Do you agree? You might say that it's a fact of life whether I agree or not. Is it really so? Today's passage raises an issue about the notion of the survival of the fittest which we generally accept as a fact of life. It does not flatly deny the argument for the survival of the fittest. There's some truth in it. Who would deny it? But the survival of the fittest is not the original design of God. Can you imagine that people compete to survive in the garden of Eden? Absolutely not! The competition or survival of the fittest is not God's idea at all. It all came into humanity with sin and corruption. With sin and corruption came human greed and pride. Greed and pride brought the ungodly competition in our life. So it's not hard and fast rules. It is a somewhat twisted reality of the sinful world. So you shouldn’t bank on it. That’s the warning and precaution from the Wiseman inspired by God. God's original idea for men was to love each other and help each other as we see in Adam and Eve. before the fall. I am not saying that you should avoid competing with others under any circumstance. We have to admit the reality of life as it is. You should train yourself to work better. You should study hard. But God wants to make your motivation straight. Work hard and study hard, not to compete with others but to build others up in love. That's the original design of God. People somehow lost the original design of God in pursuit of greed and pride. The result is that we fall into the trap of the world like fishes or birds. That’s the warning and precautions from God. God shows us how to avoid such a restless and fatal path of life. To put it simply, do not follow the path of competition and self-glory but follow the path of love and compassion as Jesus showed through his life. That’s the true path of eternal life and glory. Are you following His footsteps? So, beloved children of God, be wise not to fall into the trap of the world but to follow the footsteps of Christ. Amen!