Can Christians love their competitors as themselves? At TGC today, I say yes:

The car dealer who will sell you a new car and the mechanic who will sell you maintenance services for your old car are, unavoidably, in competition with each other. If you buy a new car, the mechanic loses your business. If you don’t, the car dealer doesn’t gain your business. This social web of competitive work was inherent in God’s decision to create more than one person (“It is not good that the man should be alone,” Gen. 2:18). This is why God is intensely interested in applying justice and mercy in economic transactions everywhere from the Old Testament law and prophets to the New Testament household codes and workplace parables. He’s keeping our competition graceful and honest.

For a deeper dive, see this paper from the Theology of Work Project, for which I was the primary contributor.

PS If you haven’t done so, check out the Faith at Work Summit, coming to Chicago this Oct 11-13!