I will share about Christian books I have read or listened to.
I will be sharing about my life before and after Christ. I will include stories about my pet and other pets I have encountered.
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.
Don’t Lose Heart
As we start getting older, our bodies begin to change.
Muscles might ache. Hair might gradually turn gray. Vision and hearing might eventually get less sharp. And we, or someone we love, might even struggle with significant or devastating health challenges.
The apostle Paul once offered some ageless wisdom to the believers in Corinth, Greece, which can still be helpful for us today:
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.”
2 Corinthians 4:16 NIV
Paul knew what it was like to face hard things; he’d been beaten, shipwrecked, snake bitten, and imprisoned.
Earlier in the letter, he’d said, “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” (2 Corinthians 4:8-9 NIV)
The ripple effects of sin’s existence in the world might frustrate us physically, but it ...
