Is competiveness a sin?

As Catholics and as people of faith, we strive to be virtuous and to follow the teachings of the Church. One will not find anything mentioning the sin of being a competitive person in the Catechism of the Catholic Church per se. However, it is a good idea to examine competitiveness, and to determine if it is sinful to have a competitive nature.

What is competitiveness

The dictionary defines competitiveness as the “desire to be more successful than others”. This definition in and of itself spells out the striving to compete with other people is not something God desires for us; therefore, it is a sin. Pride is one of the seven deadly sins, and it has been said to lay the groundwork for the other vices. Pride is a vice that disposes us to think more of ourselves than we ought. The opposite of pride is humility. Humility is a virtue which defines God as the author of all good. When we are competitive with one another in an unhealthy way, we are in sin since we are exercising pride. A competitive nature is something which may be engrained in one’s personality. This, itself, may not be considered a sin; however it is what we do with that nature. If we order to the good through charitable works and good desires, that nature can ordered in a healthy manner.

But what about sports and healthy competition?

One may ask the question: What about healthy competition such as in sports or in some of academic  form?" This is a good question, and in some cases personal discernment is definitely necessary. The nature of sports is competitive; and for the most part not sinful. However, just like anything else, ones desire for self-promotion in an unhealthy manner falls into the sin of pride and selfish desire. When we are focused on self and in our own “super-stardom” casting aside others, it falls into the category of sinful behavior.

How do we teach our children to be humbler?

In society, there tends to be a focus on the self-promotion of our children. From a very early age as young as pre-school, parents compare toddlers and preschoolers in terms of cognitive, physical, and mental abilities. This continues through school, college, and beyond. The whole nature of competition is based on outward appearance, talent, sports, riches, popularity, and other categories. Teaching children to be humbler starts with us as parents in teaching them to be less self-focused. This is done through modeling humility to our children and by instructing them on the virtues of our faith.

Moving forward in humility

Life is not perfect, and sin affects all of our lives. Recognizing the importance of living and loving the faith and modeling it to our children are ways to move forward in avoiding unhealthy competitiveness. This is never a “once and done” approach, through lives of prayer and in our relationship with the Lord we can be more loving, giving, and less selfish in our everyday lives. This will enable us, with God’s help, to be less competitive and humbler in our mode of living. In the end, we are all called to love God first and other people as much as we love ourselves. Keeping this in mind in all that we say and do, we can live a life of faith, hope, and love and avoided selfishness and competitiveness with others.