But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus.
—Acts 20:24 (nkjv)
The games are on, and the competition is fierce! My opponents? Sisters, brothers, husbands, wives, coworkers, and any other person who would get in the way of my reaching my goal. When they make progress in their lives, they are scoring points. I feel in someway that their gain is my loss. I automatically feel hurt within me when I see or hear of their success. Then I slip, insidiously, into competitive mode as I seek to strike back and score points for myself.
I dribble the ball down the court, dodging my opponents with hurting comments and covert planning. I move closer to my goal with a jab here and there, always moving closer to that score of retaliation. To bring them down a notch, as it were. Yes, I score! I get the promotion, accolades, and attention. But wait, my brother sees it and seeks to score his points of retaliation in return, and the games of Babylon continue.
The sad truth is that you and I are not players at all. We are only pawns (playing pieces) in this game. Babylon is the one in control.
It is important that a chapter of this book be committed to one of the strongest motivators of our lives in Babylon: the concept of competition, that treacherous spirit that has brought tremendous strife and heartache into the relationships of human beings. It has destroyed more marriages, friendships, coworker relationships, businesses, and organizations than can be counted. Divorce, alienation, and murder are the answers for some to end this game.
Once again, we see competition as something we’ve learned from our rearing in Babylon. To compete with each other was never the plan for us by our heavenly Father. As I write this, I can hear in my mind all of the moans and groans of the sports fans, trophy collectors, and corporate-ladder climbers. But if you will just hear me out on this point, I believe you will find the concept of living without competing with others refreshing, and even a relief.
I am not proclaiming that God does not call on each of us to grow, develop, and use the gifts that He has given us to the best of our abilities, because He does. We have reviewed in previous chapters that it is Babylon who seeks to keep us small, underdeveloped, and immature. I simply submit to you that God’s heart is to see all of us enjoy the gifts He has given to us and to others so that we can be in communion with each other, not in competition with each other. His desire is that we share our gifts with each other to benefit humanity and to build each other up and not to tear down.
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And God is there.
are full of food. People die of curable diseases, while she has medicines and services. Families lose their homes every day in Babylon due to her greed and extreme usury. The poor and struggling are punished for their poverty and debt with higher interest rates, while the rich are rewarded with more and with lower interest rates, and we work and work. Sunrise, sunset, we work unfulfilled with no sense of purpose except basic survival and the drive for more. This is the way of Babylon. She is a relentless slave master, ever driving humanity for that which will never satisfy.
simply because it is in our nature to do so. Truth and common sense dictate that we live better, feel better, and accomplish more when we love one another and work together. But the ways of Babylon keeps us at each other’s throats. We fight over nationality, skin color, money, status, power, governments, and even God. Babylon seeks to keep us in strife, for she knows that if we ever chose to live as the children of God, she would be defeated in the light of God’s love—the love that covers a multitude of sins and rejoices with those who rejoice, the love that builds instead of tears down, the love that encourages instead of crushes. Babylon seeks to destroy all of human society, and it is our choice to allow her to do so or to wake up and defend our brothers and sisters with the power of our God within His Holy Spirit.
Our inheritance as the children of Babylon was manifested in the lives of the first brothers of humanity, Cain and Abel. We see one who was seeking to do what was right and what was required of him, and the other who was lazy and who sought to deceive God. From the beginning of our fall, we see the ways of Babylon displayed in our interactions with God and with each other. She teaches us to cheat to get ahead, and in doing this, she keeps us lazy, small, and undeveloped. We move along, but we do not do what is required for us to grow and mature. We have become very proficient in the methods of deception to “get ahead,” and we have even learned to take pride in this. Sometimes we call this being business savvy. We revel in how well we have cheated our brothers and sisters. Babylon’s greed uses us to rape humanity of its resources, and we are proud of it as we teach our methods to the next generation.
