Keep Your Eyes on the Prize
1 Corinthians 9:24-27 You know that in a race all the runners run, but only one runner gets the prize. So run like that. Run to win! All who compete in the games use strict training. They do this so that they can win a prize—one that doesn’t last. But our prize is one that will last forever. So I run like someone who has a goal. I fight like a boxer who is hitting something, not just the air. It is my own body I fight to make it do what I want. I do this so that I won’t miss getting the prize myself after telling others about it.
I’ve never been a particularly gifted sportsman, but I do enjoy watching sport. In January this year, a young woman, Ash Barty, was the first Australian in forty-four years to win the Australian Open Grand Slam tennis tournament.
As you can imagine, the whole country celebrated as she lifted that huge silver trophy up over her head. Now, she’s a humble young woman – well behaved on court; no airs or graces, no pretence or pride. But rarely have I seen someone with a more laser-like focus on her game than this young twenty-five-year-old.
1 Corinthians 9:24-27 You know that in a race all the runners run, but only one runner gets the prize. So run like that. Run to win! All who compete in the games use strict training. They do this so that they can win a prize—one that doesn’t last. But our prize is one that will last forever. So I run like someone who has a goal. I fight like a boxer who is hitting something, not just the air. It is my own body I fight to make it do what I want. I do this so that I won’t miss getting the prize myself after telling others about it.
You’ll likely never win a Grand Slam tournament. I certainly won’t! And yet, there’s a far greater prize that awaits us if we’ve put our trust in Jesus to save us. But you don’t win that eternal prize by wandering aimlessly through life, any more than a tennis player will win a Grand Slam event by slacking through their training and just showing up on the day, amen?
Stay focussed. Don’t take your eyes off the prize.
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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