{1 Corinthians 9:24-27}
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. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.
For many christians, myself included, we sometimes feel comfortable standing where we are. This passage from 1 Corinthians really hits home for me when I get into one of those dry spells in my relationship with God. Its not about accepting christ and getting a stamp on our heads saying “saved.” We have to live our life like we are an olympic athlete. If we aren’t working out we get out of shape and our bodies can’t do as much as they used to; however, if we are constantly training and conditioning our bodies we feel good and energized. The same goes for our souls, if we are laxidasical and blowing off our “work out time” with God we start to feel slow and empty, but likewise if we are engaged and focused on what God is training us for we feel happy, energetic.
This is when people start to notice something is different about christians, when people who are climbing the trials life throws at us with enthusiasm and welcoming the challenge while trusting in God to lead their way. We are meant to be an example to those who are stumbling without the light of God. How can you get someone to start a spiritual “work out” with God when they see your own spiritual time with God has been lacking and your starting to carry some “baggage?” Satan uses that baggage, like the fighting between christians and churches, against us. He uses it to make us look hypocritical, and maybe even liars.
I personally have been starting to carry some baggage, public school is really tough on our relationship with God. Thankfully, God has given me a sense of adventure and horrible case of restless leg syndrom. I can’t sit still in one spot when it comes to God or else i start feeling like I’m missing out in life. Whether its skipping youth group for homework, or staying out to late on saturday nights, or maybe it is just not letting God heal the hurts we’ve felt and we are holding on to them. Sometimes if we aren’t helping others as much as God wants us to or we just don’t have the good attitude that Jesus always had. It all makes us weaker in our relationship with God, which slows us down in the race and keeps us from doing all the amazing things God has planned for us.
So my question is…
Will we be couch potatos for God? or? Will we be the olympic runners for God?
