Jump Start # 195

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

  Often the apostle Paul draws illustrations from sports, especially the Roman games. Later in this chapter, Paul refers to boxing. I wonder if Paul would have been an ESPN guy if he were around today. Running the race, that is Paul’s analogy. The race would have been a distance race. Those short sprints are fun to watch in the summer Olympics, but they are not the illustration of life. Nothing seems short. Raising kids involves at least 18 years and most often more than that. Work takes years and years before a person can retire. I don’t know anyone who had cancer for just one day and then they were cancer free. It doesn’t happen that way. And this analogy works for the Christian journey as well. If all we had to do was just live one day for Jesus, that wouldn’t be too hard. But it’s a lifetime. We can become weary, sidetracked, discouraged and distracted. This is why you will find passages telling us to be “diligent” or to, “press on,” or to, “always abound.”

  Paul tells the Corinthians that they needed to run with the goal of winning. Not all do that. I know many who have run marathons and their goal was just to finish. They knew they wouldn’t win. But here, we are to run with the mind to win. And what is winning for the Christian, it’s Heaven. It is being awarded the crown of life.

  There are obviously certain ways to run. We see this in our neighborhoods. A guy who is running in leather dress shoes doesn’t have a chance. His poor feet are going to get blisters and be in terrible shape. He’s not serious about winning. You don’t see a guy running with a soft drink in one hand and a donut in the other. He’ll never finish. It’s so easy to see the negative in this. The same is true spiritually.

  The guy who rarely shows up at church services, isn’t serious about his journey with Christ. A guy who rarely prays or almost never opens his Bible doesn’t have a chance. His faith isn’t going to be fed and he will wither away very quickly.

  The early Christians did as much outside of church services as they did within. Daily they were praying. Daily they were searching the Scriptures. Daily they were connecting with each other. Daily—not just once in a while…not just on Sunday. Why? Did the apostles give them a guilt trip if they didn’t? No. They wanted to win. They weren’t just in the race, they were running to win.

  A world class athlete has to say no to many things. When friends want to go and stay out late, he says, “No,” because he is in training. When they want to eat a bunch of junk, again, he says, “No.” But he also must say “yes.” When others are sleeping in on a cold Saturday morning, he must say “Yes” to getting up and running. When he is tired and just wants to crash in front of the TV set, his inner drive screams, “Yes to more training.” He pushes. He drives. He’s focused. He wants to win.

  For us, it is the same. We must say, “No” to the things that will keep us from winning. And when we don’t feel like doing things, we have to say “Yes” because we know that we must keep going, because we want to win.

  Some days are easier than others. Some days you really have to work at it. The goal must stay before us, or else we’ll stop. Do you want to win? Run that way! It starts today!

Roger