Living and speaking for Jesus

Up until the beginning of last year, I never thought of myself as a competative person. The sad truth is, I so am.
At the White Cross weekly pub quiz last night, as usual, I was striving to get all right, got cross when corrected, sulked when we got answers wrong, and felt a bit light headed afterwards (maybe two pints was a bit much). All in front of someone I did not know, whilst wearing a CU t shirt.
I confess I am a very prideful person (just count the amount of I's so far...), it's something I struggle with a lot actually: hating being wrong, hating being corrected, hating the fact I have to type this...
It's annoying, and it's wrong, it is typical human behaviour, wanting to be God instead of letting God do it, and to top it all, doing it in a very, very visible way.
I hate to lose, especially at something I consider myself good at, and I like to be in control, not being told what to do. However, I am not perfect, I am not God, I have to surrender my pride, nail it to the cross with Christ, and follow my Lord.
It isn't easy, and ironically enough, it really bugs me when other people do what I do, being prideful, putting people down. I do it all the time, and I hate it when others do it to. I'm a hypocrite, then again, to a point, most of us are. We hardly practice what we preach.
At the prayer supper that Moorlands holds the first Sunday evening of the month (last sunday) we looked at 1 Peter 2:9-12, which reads:

"But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation."

The big challenge that this passage presents is that God has chosen us as His people by sending Jesus to die for us, so we may proclaim Jesus, and live for Jesus by abstaining from worldly things such as drunkeness, sexual immorality, which of course is going to cause conflict for us. We are to mark ourselves by our behaviour as Christians, so that the non-believer may see us, and glorify God when Jesus comes back.
Now that is hard, and I think we're often focusing on one thing or the other. We're either seeking oppertunities to tell the gospel, but in practice not living as Jesus has called us to by His own blood, or we are trying to live for God, but not actually doing it so people may see it, or not telling people why we are doing it.
You'll find at university that you will be surrounded by so many people, and all eyes will be on you. It's natural, everyone is out for themselves. Plus, if your known as a Christian, they will be watching you to fall.
That is why it is imperative to remember the challenge of this passage, as the slogan of UCCF (Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship-the support group for University and college CU's throughout Britain) says, how they want to encourage students to live and speak for Jesus during their time at university.
If the book I am writing ever gets done, that is my aim too. As we have seen and I will constantly tell you, I am rubbish at both living and speaking for Jesus. I am a hypocrite who needs one to preach, and two to practice what he preaches most of the time! However, because of Jesus, I am made worthy by His blood, His grace alone, and I want you all to know the importance of living and speaking for Jesus, especially during your time at university. With God's help and strength, by His grace, how can you live and speak for Jesus today? What needs to change?
That is your challenge from the Bible.