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But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness Gal 5:22 |
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Dear
Friend,
If you do not already have a habit of gathering daily manna the first thing in the morning (we can look at the example given to us in Exodus 16 and find the pattern for collecting daily manna), make it a habit. Establish your life and your schedule to allow you the necessary time to do your daily collection first thing every morning to give you the strength to make it through the day. And remember that today’s manna will not be sufficient for tomorrow; tomorrow’s manna must be collected tomorrow morning. Sunday, August 6, 2017
Today's Passage : Today's Passage: Subject:Running to Win Bible Verse:1 Corinthians 9:24-27 (ESV) "Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified. " Message:
Sporting events were as important in Paul's day as in our own — not among the Jews of Palestine, but as part of the exploding Greek culture that dominated the Mediterranean region in the 1st century A.D. (Greek, not Latin, was actually the lingua francaThe “common language”, that is, the second language spoken by people in every country so that they could communicate with each other, much as pilots today must speak English. English is the lingua franca of Air Traffic Control throughout the world. of the Roman Empire. It was also the primary language of scholars, which is why the New Testament, and even the first Old Testament, were written in Greek.)
Greek discus thrower
Paul often uses figures from arena competition (at least twelve different references in his letters), including examples of runners, boxers, gladiators, chariot racers, and trophies. Sports analogies would have been especially meaningful to the Corinthians, because their city was the center for the Isthmian Games, second in prestige only to the ancient Olympic Games. Corinth was a major city and very Greek in its culture. So Paul's comparison of living for God and running in a race was as easily understood by the Corinthians as by us.
In sports, Paul finds a ready-made metaphor to support his plea for a temperate lifestyle. Any athlete training to win an event knows the necessity of foregoing excessive indulgence in food, drink, or other pleasures of the flesh. Paul considers his body to be subject to himself, not vice versa. He disciplines his body and its urges. His mind and spirit, not his bodily urges, determine what he will eat and drink, whether he might lie with a woman, etc.
Athletes, however, run with great uncertainty. Even the most dominating figure in a sport can lose. In fact, every athlete will eventually lose unless he dies or retires first. But Paul runs his race with the certainty of victory. He knows that salvation is his; and we know that salvation is ours, if we run the race to win it.
Paul is preaching the opposite of what has come to be called “cheap grace”: Get baptized, go to church on Sunday, maybe send a check to a charity every December, and don't worry about it. Wrong! If we want to find God's salvation, we have to try to win it. Endless remorse over the sins of life, without a real effort to repent and reform, is not going to cut it. We are fighting for the most important thing in the universe and we must give it our best effort! We all know that we will not overcome sin without God's grace, but we must fight, and fight as hard as an athlete trying to win a race — with our whole heart and our whole mind.
This is not to say we can earn grace. Grace is a gift of God, given to us by the sacrifice of his Son, that will make us righteous before Him despite our sin. We do not and cannot earn it. But, Paul tells us here, God expects us to try.
Meditation : Prayer : And now let me go forth praising you, O Lord, with all my heart, telling of all your wonders, with my words and in my actions. I will be glad and rejoice in you this day. I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.. Amen |
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