Running the race
Paul was a man full of energy and purpose, a man on the move, and perhaps it is not surprising that he should use the idea of movement to express what life as a Christian was like. He describes it not just as a journey, but a race:
"Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one wins the prize? Run in such a way that you may win it. Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable garland, but we an imperishable one. So I do not run aimlessly, nor do I box as though beating the air; but I punish my body and enslave it, so that after proclaiming to others I myself should not be disqualified."
1 Corinthians 9: 24-27
He writes these words to the believers in Corinth, an important Greco-Roman town where athletes and gladiators were the celebrities of the day. They trained and competed for the temporary glory of winning- and Paul asks what we can learn from them? In what areas of my life is it a challenge for me to exercise self-control? Do I often run aimlessly, forgetting the importance of my goal? Do I really believe that at the end of the race there is a prize worth winning?
"Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one wins the prize? Run in such a way that you may win it. Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable garland, but we an imperishable one. So I do not run aimlessly, nor do I box as though beating the air; but I punish my body and enslave it, so that after proclaiming to others I myself should not be disqualified."
1 Corinthians 9: 24-27
He writes these words to the believers in Corinth, an important Greco-Roman town where athletes and gladiators were the celebrities of the day. They trained and competed for the temporary glory of winning- and Paul asks what we can learn from them? In what areas of my life is it a challenge for me to exercise self-control? Do I often run aimlessly, forgetting the importance of my goal? Do I really believe that at the end of the race there is a prize worth winning?
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