Run to Win
Have you ever trained hard to compete in something you really wanted to win? You probably have a goal when working hard to win: status, fame, validation of your hard work, a sense of accomplishment, even a trophy or medal. There’s a prize at the end. The harder the road, the bigger the prize may feel.
In 1 Corinthians 9:24-25, Paul says, “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.”
Paul had his eyes fixed on the end goal: an eternity with Jesus and an eternal crown of reward for the life he lived on earth!
Have you ever started in on a new challenge, only to bail quickly once things became difficult? Think about that time and ask yourself, did you have a clear picture of what waited for you at the finish line? How does knowing an eternal reward waits for you at the finish line of this life encourage you to give this race everything you’ve got?
It’s incredible to witness the intense training athletes endure and the sacrifices they make when their aim is to win. How much more so can the eternal value of the race we run as believers motivate us? When it feels like living a life of faith is too hard, ask yourself, “What’s the prize?” Like Paul, let it fuel you to RUN.
Psalm 55
English Standard Version
Cast Your Burden on the Lord
To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Maskil[a] of David.
55 Give ear to my prayer, O God,
and hide not yourself from my plea for mercy!
2 Attend to me, and answer me;
I am restless in my complaint and I moan,
3 because of the noise of the enemy,
because of the oppression of the wicked.
For they drop trouble upon me,
and in anger they bear a grudge against me.
4 My heart is in anguish within me;
the terrors of death have fallen upon me.
5 Fear and trembling come upon me,
and horror overwhelms me.
6 And I say, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove!
I would fly away and be at rest;
7 yes, I would wander far away;
I would lodge in the wilderness; Selah
8 I would hurry to find a shelter
from the raging wind and tempest.”
9 Destroy, O Lord, divide their tongues;
for I see violence and strife in the city.
10 Day and night they go around it
on its walls,
and iniquity and trouble are within it;
11 ruin is in its midst;
oppression and ...