Through the Bible - Psalms 146-148, 1 Corinthians 12:12-31
Good morning,
You've probably heard it from weight loss advertisements to sermons, the encouragement, the challenge to "get in the game".
Today's verse comes from 1 Corinthians 9 where Paul compares the Christian life to "running the race". It's the game of life, but it is far more than a game. Paul, like Jesus, takes the Olympic games, and almost everything else in life, sees them in relation to God.
John Piper writes:
"There are at least two tremendously important things that demand our attention in this text.
- One is the prize, the crown, the finish, the triumph. What is it? What's at stake in the race of the Christian life? What are we to run for and fight for? And is that OK? To have a great prize in view as we fight the fight of faith?
- The other thing in this text that needs our attention is the running itself. How then shall we run? What is it to exercise self-control? Are we to buffet and pommel our bodies and make them our slaves? What does this look like in real life?
1 Cor 9:24 Don't you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! 25 All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. 26 So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. NLT
We are to run the race to win, and to do it in a way that we wont be disqualified.
1 Cor 9:27 I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified. NLT
A marathon is a race that proves endurance. You can't run the race without training, without pressing, pushing your body, and your mind to the limit. But it's not about pressing and striving in our own strength. Yes, your strength is involved, but it is where that strength comes from that it important.
John Piper continues, "Make no mistake here! Life is not a place for proving to God or anybody your strength. Life is a place for proving whose strength you trust—man's or God's. Life is not a place for proving the power of your intelligence to know truth. It's a place for proving the power of God's grace to show truth (Matthew 16:17). Life is not a field for demonstrating the force of our will to make good choices. It's a field for showing how the beauty of Christ takes us captive and constrains us to choose and run for his glory.
The race of life has eternal consequences not because we are saved by works, but because Christ has saved us from dead works to serve the living and true God with Olympic passion (Hebrews 9:14). "
In the Christian life the point is not that there is only one winner, the point is: run the way the winner runs"
In the Christian life the point is not that there is only one winner, the point is: run the way the winner runs"
How is your training going? Are you in the race to win the prize? Make it your committment to "run to win".
Eph 5:1-2 Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. 2 Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. NLT
Striving for a Crown
24 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. 25 And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. 26 Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. 27 But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified. NKJV
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