Challenge Check-Up - Progress on 1 Corinthians 9:24-27

1 Corinthians 9:24-27

24 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. 25 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. 26 Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. 27 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.

 

 

I gave you, my readers, a challenge in Chapter 6 of "Becoming a Proverbs 31 Woman." It was to take the passage above and reflect on it and how it relates to you personally and your spiritual energy. I then asked you to brainstorm your ideas and take one particular idea and work to make it reality. I hope that each of you has done this, but if you haven't it's OK. We're going to talk about it in today's blog, and you can do the activity later! 

 

This is probably my favorite analogy of our spiritual energy and the effort God expects us to put into it. One of the reasons I like it is because I'm a big believer in exercise and staying fit and healthy, so I understand what Paul is talking about here. Training my body requires discipline and dedication, and my results suffer when those things are lacking. Training myself spiritually is similar - when I don't work to build my spiritual energy, my life reflects it in negative thinking, interactions, and results. 

 

You may be thinking that Paul's words sound good but don't make much sense to you. If that's the case, let's look at this together. Paul is telling us that we train ourselves spiritually - we grow stronger in Christ's word and live for him in everything we do. Spiritual training requires self-discipline, so we make sure that the things we do, the places we go, and the people we spend our time with are helping us grow closer to Christ, not taking us away or causing us to lose our focus on him. Paul lived as an example to those he taught so that he wouldn't miss out on his prize after the race was run. If you are an example to someone, this message is for you - make sure you aren't just teaching others to live for Christ and living however you want to when they're not around. 

 

As Christians, we shouldn't run around aimlessly with no goal in mind; we should know what we're working towards and set out to accomplish it. Like any great athlete, we're striving for the prize. But, like Paul says, our prize is eternal - we're striving for life with our Lord in heaven forever. I don't know about you, but that makes me want to work harder on my spiritual energy and personal relationship with my savior.