A PRIZE WINNING LIFE
1 CORINTHIANS 9:24-27 NKJV
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.
Paul is back to his favorite rhetorical question. Do you not know? He may be using this phrase to state the obvious. So he asks the question regarding running a race. Evidently, in Paul’s day, they only gave a prize to those who came in first. This preceded the participation trophies by a couple of thousand years.
Everyone runs the race; only one receives the prize. Run to win. Paul is talking about running our race down here on earth. We are running to win, not to beat our brothers and sisters in Christ. Rather we are running our race to the best of our ability. We are running to complete the work God has called us to as believers.
Paul makes it clear that if we are going to run to win, we have to imitate those who run natural physical races. They are temperate in all things. The word temperate means self-controlled. A top-level athlete has learned to control his body and his appetites. A winning runner does not give in to the messages his body sends.
As a former runner, I know full well what Paul is saying. If you are going to run to win, you have to ignore the loud protests of your body commanding you to stop. Your body wants to avoid pain, and running to win involves pain.
Runners then and now run to obtain a prize that will tarnish and be forgotten with age. But we are running to win a prize that never fades away. Spiritual things always carry more value because they are eternal. All the stuff we gain down here gets old and fades away. But spiritual prizes and rewards are forever.
Paul mentions that he runs his race down here on earth with purpose. He is not wandering or flailing away at nothing. Instead, he disciplines his body and makes his body obey him so that he will not be disqualified. That’s an amazing insight from arguably the strongest Christian of any era. Paul recognized that if he obeyed his fleshly desires, it would be game over for him.
APPLICATION:
Running to win our race is a mindset. A mindset that has determined that living for God is the greatest thing we can do with our life while we are on earth. A mindset that says we are playing the long game. We are running with eternity in mind. We are running for an audience of One.
And a running to win the prize mindset realizes we have to become comfortable with being uncomfortable. Disciplining our bodies in order to live a life that pleases God is not the easiest path. It is much easier to give up and give in. But we want to win the prize. And so we run.
PRAYER:
Dear Lord, help me develop the mindset that will yield a prize-winning life. I don’t want to be left out or left behind.