February 3, 2016
Training for Life
I
discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest . . . I myself should become
disqualified.— 1 Corinthians 9:27 nkjv ?”
Read:
1
Corinthians 9:24-27
I recently met a woman who has pushed her body and mind to
the limit. She climbed mountains, faced death, and even broke a Guinness world
record. Now she’s engaged in a different challenge—that of raising her
special-needs child. The courage and faith she employed while ascending the
mountains she now pours into motherhood.
In 1 Corinthians, the
apostle Paul speaks of a runner competing in a race. After urging a church
enamored with their rights to give consideration to one another (ch. 8), he
explains how he sees the challenges of love and self-sacrifice to be like a
marathon of endurance (ch. 9). As followers of Jesus, they are to relinquish
their rights in obedience to Him.
As athletes train
their bodies that they might win the crown, we too train our bodies and minds
for our souls to flourish. As we ask the Holy Spirit to transform us, moment by
moment, we leave our old selves behind. Empowered by God, we stop ourselves
from uttering that cruel word. We put away our electronic device and remain
present with our friends. We don’t have to speak the last word in a
disagreement.
As we train to run in
the Spirit of Christ, how might God want to mold us today?
Lord, let me not demand my rights, but train to win the prize
that lasts forever.
Amy Boucher Pye is a writer, editor, and speaker. The author
of Finding Myself in Britain: Our Search for Faith, Home, and True Identity,
she runs the Woman Alive book club in the UK and enjoys life with her family in
their English vicarage.
Training leads to transformation.
INSIGHT:
Psalm 18 seems to be a song of retrospective
understanding. In many of David’s psalms we find him being pursued and hunted,
first by Saul and later by Absalom. During those times of flight and danger,
David sometimes questioned God’s faithfulness, love, and care—wondering why the
Lord didn’t intervene on his behalf. In Psalm 18, however, we see a more
reflective David. He looked back on his journey and saw continuous evidence of
the presence and protection of God along the way (vv. 1–3; 16–19; 25–29; 35–36;
47–50)—even in the seasons of life where that evidence seemed scarce. Now,
looking back, David affirmed what he had questioned—the faithfulness of God.
Source: Our Daily Bread 2016
