Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. ~ 1 Cor. 9:14
We live in an age of self indulgence. Our culture has come to a place where we really enjoy pampering ourselves.
We have spas, nail salons, massages, rest times, vacations, comfort food, naps, ‘downtime’, etc. Why? We like the feeling of rest. We enjoy feeling pampered.
Now, to be clear, there’s nothing wrong with any of those things, but they can lull us into a place of feeling like those are ‘needs’ rather than blessings. We’ve learned to enjoy giving the flesh what it desires.
Paul’s perspective
The Christian life is rarely referred to with those terms. True, we’re called to rest in Christ, but that’s related to our need for righteousness from Him.
Paul appeals to the Corinthians in this verse, and it’s context, to encourage them toward self-control for the sake of Christ.
The metaphor of a race is common in the New Testament. Paul appeals to them here to run as those who want to win the race.
Later in the chapter, Paul will tell them that he makes his body his slave in order to ‘win’ the race of his Christian life. His call to them, and to us, is to fight against the nature yearnings of the flesh, to turn away from our natural bent of self-service, and to labor in our Christian lives like those who are.
Winning the race
But for Paul, his point isn’t to finish the race with the most trophies. He wanted to remain faithful. In fact, at the end of his life, he said that he had ‘finished the course’ in the same breath as saying that he had ‘kept the faith’ (2 Tim 4:7).
For Paul, victory was remaining faithful to Christ until he entered His presence. The danger of allowing his flesh to win was ever-present in Paul’s mind, right up until his death. To win was to die in faith, and to be received into the presence of Christ.
Fighting our flesh can be tough, but Paul’s call to us is to run our Christian lives like a race, and to train ourselves to run until we win.
