“Everyone Can Be a Winner”


BIBLE READING:1 Corinthians 9

Paul uses runners in the Greek games as examples of how we are to live as Christians. The first thing to notice is the utmost tension, energy, and strenuous effort pictured by athletes straining for the finish line in hope of the glory of winning. "This is the way to run," says Paul, "if we want to attain our potential."
In many sports today, especially among younger kids, everyone wins.  At the end of the season every child gets a trophy.  Is this a good idea?  Maybe, but everyone knows the players who did well and those who didn't.  Paul says that the runners agonize to win the crown. That crown was not gold or silver, but leaves.  Just a wreath of leaves for the head of the runner was the reward for winning.
When we consider the Christian race, we know everyone can be a winner.  I'm not trying to "beat you out" of a place in heaven.  Jesus says His Father's mansion has many rooms.  We all can have one.  We need to add qualities of effort, concentration, and single-mindedness to our lives.  Stop doing what is sinful.  Our growth can be stunted or killed by not watching out for the sinful. Paul shows in Hebrews 12:1:  "Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us."
Many "unsinful" things can be "weights" simply because they are so time and mind-consuming. Because we do not want to fail in accomplishing the highest purpose for which we were called, we have to run light to successfully endure the length of the race.  Don't let anything push Jesus from your life and cause you to miss the prize of heaven.


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