Satan challenged God because he wanted to be first. God, on the other hand, competes with no one. Nor does He desire us to compete with each other.

Fear manifests itself in many forms, including pride, anger, and competition, stemming from feelings of inadequacy and not measuring up to our pretense.

Three symptoms of pride include (1) lying to protect our self-image; (2) competitiveness; (3) believing our personal ideas are more valuable than God's Truth.

Competition is the root cause of war, business takeovers, and marital discord. Solomon describes man's rivalry with one another as a striving after wind.

In one context, evolution is absolutely real:the transition of one of God's called-out ones from a state of fear to a state of transcendental agape love.

Competition in the church can lead to disaster, destroying harmony and unity. Competition and pride destroy unity; humility and cooperation enhance unity.

The Bible takes a very dim view of argument, debate, discord, and strife. In all matters of contention, we must strive to put ourselves above the fray.

Wives are admonished to submit to their husbands, children to their parents, servants to their overseers, and we all are admonished to submit to one another.

God wants us to walk—live our lives—by faith, but our pride and vanity frequently get in the way. Critically, pride causes us to reject God and His Word.

We have the commission to be witnesses to a corrupt society. It is in the closeness of the crowd that we have the greatest potential to grow spiritually.

Because of our lack of self-discipline and willingness to guard the truth, we have allowed our theological base to deteriorate under the persuasion of the world.

Nimrod, Babylon's founder, was a narcissistic, arrogant, ungodly rebel who strove for preeminence. Most of his world clung to his coattails for security.

The hallmark of Christian character is humility, which comes about only when one sees himself in comparison to God. Pride makes distorted comparisons.

Humility, poverty of spirit, and acknowledging our total dependence on God are of the utmost importance. God responds to those who are humble.

Paul displayed a gentleness not grounded in weakness, but in strength, a gentleness which showed anger, but only at the right time and to the right degree.

Our human nature is pure vanity with a heart that is desperately deceitful and wicked, motivated by self-centeredness, a deadly combination for producing sin.

Solomon provides these comparisons to indicate the choices we should make to live better lives in alignment with God, even in an 'nder the sun' world.

Pride condemned Satan to a fate of manipulating rather than serving. This presumptuous self-centered trait creates disunity and ultimately destruction.

Solomon's statement that all of life is vanity is only true if one is not privy to God's ultimate purpose for mankind. Paul describes what God is doing.