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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 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. Monday, August 19, 2019
Today's Passage : Today's Passage:Running to Win Bible Verse :1 Corinthians 9:24-27 "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified." Message:
Sporting events were big in Paul’s day as well as in our own. 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. This would have been especially meaningful to the Corinthians, because their city was the center for the Isthmian Games, second in prestige to the ancient Olympics. 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.
The sports metaphor translates easily into Paul’s cry 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. He, and not his body, determines what he will eat and drink, when 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 early enough. But Paul runs his “race” with the certainty of victory.
But Paul runs with certainty. He knows that salvation is his, and ours, if we run the race to win it.
The important point here is that, to find God’s salvation, you 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.
Meditation : Prayer : Most High, Glorious God, enlighten the darkness of my mind. Give me a right faith, a firm hope and a perfect charity, so that I may always and in all things act according to Your Holy Will.......Amen |
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