Blame it on jet lag, but we were mesmerized with the dog show competition on British TV channel 4. I found myself rooting, well, for the underdog, a golden retriever named Taffy. In one relay, the dogs had to pick up a raw egg and carry it from one spot to the other. Taffy dropped her egg. In another relay, the dogs were to carry a hot dog in their mouths to one end of the course and back again. Off the dogs went, and then disaster struck. The commentator was clearly upset, “Oh, my. Oh, dear. Taffy just ate the hot dog. She ate the hot dog.”

And there, sat Taffy, happily licking her lips, unperturbed. Each dog started with a perfect score. Points were deducted for every wrong action. When it was time for the commercial break, the dogs' names and scores flashed onto the screen. Taffy was at the bottom. My fan favorite.

I thought of Taffy the other day when The New York Times reported that “Buddy Holly, a fetchingly bewhiskered petit basset griffon Vendéen won best in show at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show on Tuesday night, beating back a field of fellow champions that included last year’s runner-up, Winston the French bulldog.”

Apparently, Buddy Holly’s owner and trainer had dreamed of this day since she was nine years old.

That dream of best in show is a reoccurring one for a lot of us who are way past our ninth birthday. We spend years training for it—we attend the best schools to secure the best careers so we can live in the best neighborhoods and send our children to the best schools. We want to be the best in our lives and the world is the show.

Schools, careers and neighborhoods aren’t the real problem.

The problem is the way I size up my competition. Who’s the biggest threat to my comfort? Who can make me look good? And who won’t? Maybe we should spend less time comparing ourselves with each other.

In Luke 18:9, Jesus told a story to people “who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt” Sounds like Jesus had an audience of top dogs, vying for Best in Show, but, like the Pharisee in the story, going about it all the wrong way: trusting in themselves, their training, their achievements, their righteousness.

The competitions and obstacles courses we set up for ourselves often aren't even measuring what really counts. Truth is, I'm more like Taffy than Buddy Holly.

The bigger truth is that we already have been disqualified from Best in Show, toward the bottom of the list. Trusting in ourselves won’t redeem us or exalt us in God’s eyes. Instead of thanking God that we are not like the others, we need to be the others and say every day, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner,” because he gives grace to the humble, exalting them to the ultimate best in show in heaven and on earth not on the basis of anything I've done at all. It's all Jesus..

The prize of life is Jesus himself. Not accolades or ribbons or trophies. And Luke 22 reminds us of his posture: "I am among you as the one who serves."

As my husband prays each morning, "May we be more like you, Jesus, today and less like ourselves."