Scripture

“Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it.” 1 Corinthians 9:24

Observation

The Apostle Paul would have been an ESPN Sports Center enthusiast. Throughout his writings he used many sports analogies in describing the life of a believer, undoubtedly, inspired from the Olympic games in his day. Here he is telling us that, whether you like to run, or not, we are ALL, as believers, running in a race–the ultimate race of life. We are born, or should I say, re-born to run! We are in a race that obtains an eternal, spiritual crown, not like the temporal crown of laurel leaves the Olympian athletes trained and disciplined their bodies to obtain. Paul goes on to tell us that we are to “run in such a way” as to not disqualify ourselves from the race and, thus, forfeit the prize. But we are to discipline our bodies and train to win.

Application

As any runner can tell you, racing is not for the faint of heart. It takes a physical aptitude to take the first step and an even greater mental fortitude to finish. In any given race there are two critical times in the race, the start and the finish. At the start, it’s crowded and the place for greatest risk of injury. Near the end, your body is telling you to quit, it’s not worth it, just throw in the towel. This is where all the training comes in and your mind tells you to keep putting one foot in front of the other. Our race is a spiritual race. As we daily train our spirit and renew our minds in the reading and meditation of scriptures and allow others to spiritually coach us, the outworking in our soul and body will be as a trained runner in-stride breaking the tape at the finish line. We can then say as the Apostle Paul penned, “I have finished the race…there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness” – 2 Timothy 4:7,8.

Prayer

Lord, I pray for the power of the Holy Spirit to keep me strong in my mind and body to do that which is pleasing to You so I can win the race of life for Your glory. Amen!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 24th, 2010 at 9:12 PM and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.