[Run to Win] Top PerformanceSample

Running the Race

The Corinthians were familiar with athletic competitions. The Isthmian Games were held nearby every two or three years and were second only to the Olympic Games in importance. They featured foot races and boxing matches and saw athletes compete hard to be crowned victors. Isthmian Games athletes trained for ten months to qualify as a competitor in the games. Training, discipline, and practice made all the difference to being in their best condition for the race and obtaining the victory.

In the same way, the apostle Paul compares our Christian life to a race. He encourages Christians to run well and persevere to win the prize the Lord, the righteous Judge, has prepared for us.

In this race of life that believers take part in, we don’t battle against each other but against ourselves as we tirelessly train, develop self-discipline, and condition ourselves to keep running to the end. In the Christian race of life, everyone who keeps the rules stays on the track and reaches the finish line will receive our reward.

Athletes not only train hard and persevere but also abstain from everyday comforts to be ready.

Such discipline could mean anything from fasting a meal to disciplining our flesh and hearing God’s guidance better. It could also mean permanently abstaining from pleasures that could weigh us down or lead us off track. What is the Coach asking you to give up, either temporarily or permanently?

The word “race” in Greek means “to agonize.” It conveys that a Christian needs to work relentlessly, die to self, and train hard to stay at our top performance so that one day, we receive the prize that our Lord will award us at the finish line.

While our salvation is an amazing gift from God given to us by grace, we strive to obtain our reward. By persevering in faith and sanctification, we obtain the crown of victory—an eternal, imperishable crown we shall receive someday when we stand before the Lord.

Lord, help me to condition myself to run the race of life. Show me the things You want me to abstain from. Help me realize that my training has an eternal purpose. Let me be consistent and perseverant so that I may receive the victor’s crown in the end!