It is my personal desire to follow Jesus Christ with a greater focus, a greater passion, and a greater intensity than I did in any of the previous years I have followed Him. We are on day closer to the return of Jesus Christ, what shall I/we do with the days we have left?
There is a challenging passage that Paul the apostle writes in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27. “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified” (ESV).
What immediately stands out in this passage is the question asked in verse 24. And then Paul answers with what ought to be in our hearts as believers in Christ. We are to run the race of life as a follower of Christ to win the race. Why would someone enter and run a race to lose or maybe even better not to do your very best? No one wins every race for a variety of reasons but their training is so that they can compete for the victory each and every time they do race.
Paul tells the church and us – don’t settle for second. It’s almost as if second place is the first loser. Those who lived in Corinth understood what Paul was speaking about because the city hosted athletic games only second to the Olympics in Athens. They were sport crazy in that day as well. Paul, just like Jesus, wrote in the language of the crowd he was addressing.
In any track and field meet there are three categories of runners: sprinters, middle distance and long distance. And each type of runner will race to win their type of event from short distance to long distance.
Each runner will train in the proper way for the right race. And they train is such a way as to be the victor in each of their respective races. It does not make sense to train for second place or first loser. When Jim Ryun trained for running the mile back in the 1960’s and 1970’s his coach was a former swimming coach and he took that philosophy into track. So Jim’s high school coach would have him sometimes run up to 40 400 meter runs in one practice. He was the first high school miler to run in under four minutes and it stood as a record for over 35 years.
When you compete, when you train – you do it for one sole purpose. If you don’t, then why are you doing it? It is a waste of time.
One who trains hard will certainly be misunderstood as well as admired. Many may think you are out of your mind as some did Jesus, but you must press on. There may be times when you want to give up, but you must press on. There may be times when you want to give up because it’s too hard or maybe too many people are against you, but you must press on.
Why do you do this? To win! Often it feels as if you’re losing you must press on. So there is an intense focus and a passion that ought to be unparalleled. Let us be able to say with Paul at the end of our earthly race: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7).
So it looks as if Paul is telling us that all of us are in the race. If we are breathing and are followers of Jesus then we are runners in the stadium. No one sits on the sidelines or watches from the stands. Each and every follower of Jesus competes in the race. It is not for the few and the proud, but for those who name the name of Christ.
How did this race to win look in Paul’s life? First Corinthians 15:10 gives us a glimpse of it: “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.” God’s grace for Paul was not a cause to lie down and be lazy in following Jesus, but it was a cause to lay it all on the line, to run for all he was worth for the One that placed him in the race. You could look also at 2 Corinthians 11:23ff and in Philippians 3 for Paul’s view of his race. But Paul never gave up and never gave in and from his own pen it seems as if he could have given up at any time; I probably would have. But he knew that he was in a race and he was there to win.
No matter how long you have been a follower of Jesus you are not past your prime. We are all to run the race to win! And it seems as if Paul is emphatic in his call here; in fact, he commands us to win! Why? Because the prize is very well worth it; it is Jesus Christ Himself!
Do you and I follow Jesus like a new gym membership we bought soon after our New Year’s resolution? We begin with great gusto and then soon find something else to occupy our time until we look in the mirror and say to ourselves that we better get back to it and then again soon after we are out of the gym distracted by something else?
Some personal questions we might want to ask as we run this race. What will I do personally to run the race to win? Do I have what it takes? How will this race change my life?
Read these three verses a few times as we think deeply about running the race to win. Ephesians 2:10; “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” And Philippians 2:12-13; “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.”
Thanks to our Guest Contributor:
Pastor Ray Peters
Harvest Alliance Church
