Run to Win

The Apostle Paul compares the Christian life to a "race", and when I think about this race I think about four different types of people:

1. Spectators

These people are not running the race at all. They are just on the sidelines. Some are thinking about getting in the race while others seem to not care at all.

2. Pretenders

These are the people who pretend to be runners. They wear the right clothes and the right shoes so they will look like a runner. They can talk the talk, discussing times and distances just like a runner. But in fact they never enter the race.

3. Finishers

These are the people who are running the race, but they are only running to "finish". What I mean by that is that their goal is not to win the race, just to finish it. Because of this, they do not put in the required time and effort to make them winners. They do "just enough".

4. Winners

These are the people who work and train themselves. For them, just finishing the race is not enough. Their goal is to win, to obtain the prize. They put in not only the time required to meet their goal, they even go over and beyond that because they don't want to leave anything to chance. They spend countless hours training alone, doing whatever it takes to build up their endurance in order that they will have what it takes when the day arrives.

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

On this last day of 2008, as I look into a new year, I have to ask myself "Which one am I?". I'm afraid that for much of my life as a Christian I've been just a 'Finisher', putting in just enough time and effort to enable me to finish the race. One of those people that say "just give me a cabin in the corner of heaven". But that is not what Paul says we should do.

"Run in such a way that you may obtain the prize."

I can't help but think about Michael Phelps and his Olympic gold medals. I think about all the work and effort he put in when no one was watching. The training day after day with no glory, no pats on the back, no TV appearances. Four long years of training. The Christian race is the same. We all want to be victorious Christians, but we must put in the effort, the training, the discipline.

Don't run the race just to finish - Run to Win!

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. 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. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified. 1 Corinthians 9:24-27