1 Corinthians: Not in VainSýnishorn

'The Christian life is a race.’ 

I don’t know about you, but when I hear someone say that, I can’t help feel that my own life bears more similarity to the muddle of a school sack race than the accomplished performance of toned Olympic athletes. 

And yet in our passage today, the apostle Paul urges us to see that we are in a race. But the point is not that we’re competing against each other to be the best Christian. Rather, it’s that there is a goal, a prize, ahead of us. Knowing this should bring a real sense of gravity to how we live our lives in the present. We see this particularly as Paul describes his mindset in 9:24–27. 

Of course, much of life is mundane and banal. Perhaps you’re feeling that at the moment: the never-ending cycle of household chores or administration; the often exhausting routine of looking after children; the daily grind of office life. And yet even in those moments and seasons, Paul calls us to see that we do not live aimlessly: there is an eternal ‘crown’ that lies before us (9:25). 

Paul then takes us back to the nation of Israel’s conduct recorded in the Old Testament. He wants us to see that their journey through the wilderness towards the promised land has parallels with our situation. Though they’d been rescued from slavery in Egypt, most of them never made it to the ‘finish line’ (10:1–5). 

And here’s where the rubber hits the road: this should be a wake-up call to us, to ‘keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did’ (10:6). Paul particularly lists idolatry (Ex. 32:6), sexual immorality (Num. 25:1–2), testing God (Num. 21:4–6) and grumbling (Num. 14) as sins that brought God’s judgment and prevented them from finishing.

Reflection

Reflect on the warnings and encouragements in this passage:

Do you drift into thinking that we’ll always just keep going as Christians? 

Are you encouraged that God does not set his people up to fail but provides what we need to endure, not least through his word and his people?