Good and Best

Whew!  I'm sore!  I have done four sprint workouts in eight days and three of the four sprint days I either played tackle football or soccer afterwords.  Man, I'll be glad to get a rest.  But, it's interesting looking back on to today's events.  I played football, and I wasn't the fastest and I wasn't the strongest.  I wasn't the best.  And it was a little annoying.  I find that many times I struggle not to get frustrated or envious when I'm not the best at something.  It's very hard to concede that I'm not the best at something.  But why?  We are all given the desire to excel and do well, and this is a very good thing to have.  How much work would be accomplished if we were all apathetic and never wanted to be better?  But, as with most things, this good gift has been perverted.  It can instead be based on selfishness and a false sense of adequacy.  We HAVE to be the best otherwise we get frustrated and envy the person who is better.  We never stop to acknowledge that they are better, though, because that would be admitting to the world that someone is better than we are.  We are just worried about ourselves and our image.  We have a false sense of adequacy whereby we think that what makes us good or adequate is based off of what we can do, not who we are.  This can lead either to a semi-harmless drive to excel and be better than everyone else, or it can lead to things much worse.  It can lead to anger or even hatred towards those who are better than ourselves.  It can make us always paranoid that someone will come along who is smarter, or fast, or stronger, or better looking, or can do something better than we can.  It can affect how we interact and view others, accepting them only if they are good at certain things, or if they can help you be better.  It can also hurt our relationship with God if we start thinking that God judges us only based off of what we do.  God looks much deeper (into our soul and into our heart, revealing the real man) and we must too.  We must not worry about being the best, because in the long run it really doesn't matter.  Are we trying to impress God? God gave you the abilities that you have, and if He gave you a lesser ability than someone else, then so be it.  Praise Him for the gifts He has given you.  God doesn't accept you because you are really good at something.  Hopefully people don't as well.  Hopefully, people accept you by who you are, not what you do.  And if they don't, then why hang around them a lot?  I remember a famous line in the movie Batman Begins.  Rachel says to Batman, "It's not who you are on the inside, but what you do that defines you."  That is so wrong!  Yet our culture accepts it as truth.  Do our actions matter?  Absolutely.  But we are defined by our heart attitude.  We are defined by Christ's work in us.  And only after our heart is changed can our actions show forth God's grace.  Every good thing comes from above, and it is only after God has worked in our hearts that we can right actions.  But back on the subject of being the best.  I struggle with this a lot.  And I thank God that He has shown that to me so that I can work on it.  Any thoughts?