I enjoyed watching the Olympics, especially the figure skaters. They make their sport look so easy and graceful. They smile as they are competing but once off the ice they are panting. It must take a lot of work for them to build up endurance. The athletes discipline themselves to train many hours a day, 7 days a week to be the best at their sport. Yet there is only one winner.
Each of us runs the race of life. Paul tells us that you (plural-not individually) all run in such a way that you (all) will win. Our prize isn’t salvation because that is a free gift from God. We are saved by believing not achieving. Our prize is our heavenly reward. It’s the joy of hearing Jesus say, “Well done!” God blesses us on top of free salvation with temporal and eternal rewards for faithfully serving Him.
How do we run this race to obtain an eternal prize? Serving others, growing through circumstances in our life, prayer, Bible study and worship the one true God. It takes commitment, discipline and self-denial. We can’t sit in the grandstand and observe; or run just to finish instead of winning.
Unlike The Olympic games where there is only one winner per event, each one of us who are Christ followers can win the prize. There will always be someone faster, smarter, stronger than us. That’s okay because each of us is running our own race, with the opportunities God gives us. What we do for Christ will last forever.
Olympians exercise self-control. They don’t fill up on oatmeal fudge bars (my personal favorite) but keep a strict diet. They get proper amounts of sleep each night. Daily they train for their events. They do it to obtain a prize that eventually fades.
We are in a race to accomplish what God put us here for, a race to finish in a way to hear God say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Matthew 25:21, 23
How is your race going?
On the journey,
Trish