Competition!
What kind of competition?
One ultimately for the eternal souls of kids! That is, of course, if they're not saved. For those that are, for them to become mature, responsible, victorious Christians when they become teenagers, and when they grow up. The alternative (and I might add, by far the most common) is to be a "mamby pamby," crushed, pushed down, defeated, Christian who is a long way from God when they become a teenager, and when they grow up!
Just think about it...
In the "natural," let's say that one day a real estate developer is looking at some land that he owns, and he says out loud, "I think I'll build an office building." And so, he hires a contractor, and makes plans to start the office building. But during the planning process, one day he tells the contractor, "In order to save some money, let's make a smaller foundation. I mean nobody'll be the wiser, it won't hurt anybody, and, as I said, it'll save some important money! And so, that's how they build the office building. They get finished, people move in, and they think everything's just great! Yes, it's look's great on the outside. But on the inside it has problem's! Why? Because it has a weak foundation! So... when the storms, and the winds come, and blow on the building, what will eventually happen?
It's going to collapse, of course!
And probably with a big number of people in it, too! Those of us that have been around awhile, if we think about it, can think of office buildings, hotels, meeting halls, etc., that have collapsed because of "substandard construction." And that can be translated skimping on the foundation!
Now, then, think about New York City!
It's full of tall buildings, called skyscrapers. And yet their track record of having one fall in a storm is nearly perfect! Why? Because in the "Big Apple" (for the uninitiated, that's the nickname of New York) they've learned the importance of a strong foundation! And, so, everything that they build has one! And they take pains to make sure that's true! Now, that's not always been true! In fact when they first started building the Empire State Building many years ago, which was for years and years the tallest building in the world, and the building that King Kong made his last stand on, it actually (the part they had built) collapsed. So, what did they do? They rebuilt it with a stronger foundation. And they learned their lesson. All skyscrapers from that day on in New York City have a strong foundation.
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