![\"runner](\"http:\/\/farm8.staticflickr.com\/7135\/7421655342_239fc43afb_o_d.jpg\" "\\"runner\\"")
Christians Are Like Athletes<\/h2>\nSports are a big part of the American way of life.\u00a0 We admire athletes for their drive, their determination, their dedication to the game, and the contribution they make to their team and to the sport as a whole.\u00a0 And these are good things.<\/p>\n
Christians Are Like Athletes<\/h2>\nThe Christian life is a lot like the life of an athlete.\u00a0 In fact this comparison is drawn several times in the Bible.\u00a0 I Corinthians 9:24, Galatians 2:2, and 5:7, and Hebrews 12:1 all use running a race as an allusion for the Christian life. Let\u2019s look more closely at one of these.<\/p>\n
1 Corinthians 9:23-25 (New International Version) says: The Isthmos games were held every two years at Corinth, similar to the Olympic games held every 4 years at Olympia. The most important part of these was a horse race, but another very popular event, especially to the common folk of the times, was a grueling foot race, a pentathlon. It is thought to be this race that Paul refers to in this passage, for there were no silver or bronze medals, only a single winner who received a crown as King of the race. And athletes who were entering the race would arrive many weeks before to train for the race by running the course and practicing the skills employed in the race. They focused on a single goal: to win.<\/p>\n Now, some people take offense to the notion that the Christian life would be a competition, or that there are rewards to be earned, and will say \u201cI don\u2019t care about rewards, I don\u2019t serve Jesus to get a prize, I do it because I love him and because he gave me salvation.\u201d And that\u2019s fine, I don\u2019t think we need to become like the Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses who believe that only the 144,000 most productive souls will be raised to heaven to live with God when the end comes, all others who are \u201csaved\u201d will live in a paradise on Earth (they get this thought from Revelations 14:1-5 by the way) and so they are in tense competition with one another to obtain as many converts as possible in their lifetime.<\/p>\n And we must be clear that we are running for a heavenly reward, not the accolades of man. For Matthew 6:1-2 (New International Version) says: I liken it to the Parable of the Talents that Jesus told as related in Matthew 25.\u00a0 You know the story: a wealthy man was going away on a journey and he gave each of his 3 servants some of his money to look after, two of them invested the money and when their master came back they returned what he had given them and a healthy return.\u00a0 But the third servant buried the money he was given and when his master returned, he gave back only what he was given originally.\u00a0 The master was very displeased with the servant and called him evil and lazy.<\/p>\n In the same way, God has given each of us talents, not gold coins but abilities, that we are expected to invest and manage while our master, Jesus, is away on His journey.\u00a0 When He returns, He will expect us to give an account of how we have managed what He entrusted to us.<\/p>\n Romans 14:11-12 (New International Version) says: There will come a time, after the end of days, after the rapture when all of God\u2019s children will stand before the throne of God and give an accounting of their lives.\u00a0 This has nothing to do with salvation.\u00a0 We will not have to argue our way into heaven based on how we lived our lives.\u00a0 Bible is clear that no one can earn their way into heaven with good works alone.\u00a0 This accounting will take place in heaven, we\u2019re already there.<\/p>\n But, what did we do with our lives and our abilities?\u00a0 Did we serve only ourselves, promoting our own interests or did we serve the will of God and promote Jesus as Lord and fulfill His instructions to us concerning our interaction with the world?\u00a0 Or did we bury our abilities and do nothing at all with them, squandering what we were given?<\/p>\n This will be the awards ceremony at the great throne of God.\u00a0 Those who have trained hard and run the race diligently will be rewarded for their efforts.<\/p>\n If you were going to run in a physical foot race, would you just show up on the day of the race with no training at all?\u00a0 If you did, would you expect to win\u2026 or even to perform well?\u00a0 Probably not.<\/p>\n Any athlete, regardless of the sport they participate in \u2013 with the possible exception of Ping-Pong \u2013 trains.\u00a0 They spend time practicing the sport, building their physical strength and endurance.\u00a0 They condition their bodies by eating the right foods, avoiding the wrong foods, and developing an attitude or mind set that will encourage them to do their best and not give up until they cross the finish line.<\/p>\n In my youth I was a distance runner: cross country, 1 mile relay, 880, 440.\u00a0 I know, you\u2019re wondering how a stumpy little fellow like me could ever have competed seriously in foot racing, but in my day I was actually pretty good.\u00a0 Of course at that time, I was a twig and my coach used to \u00a0say that the reason I could run so fast was that I had absolutely no wind resistance at all! \u00a0 But the truth was that I trained – a lot. \u00a0 We lived out in the country and there were an almost unlimited amount of lonely country back-roads spreading out in all directions from our home. \u00a0 My brother and I would go out and run these roads together.\u00a0 We were very competitive; my brother and I, and we challenged one another all the time. \u00a0 And it made us both that much better for the effort.<\/p>\n As Christians we need to train for the race.\u00a0 We need to challenge one another occasionally, to encourage each other to step up our pace. \u00a0 All too often I hear people when asked to participate in some church activity say \u201cOh, no, I can\u2019t\u2026 I\u2019m just too busy, I don\u2019t have the time. \u00a0 I just can\u2019t.\u201d\u00a0 And yet I know that if they\u2019d been asked to go out for a meal or to see a movie, they\u2019d have made the time to go.\u00a0 They can find the time to do things they want to do, but time is a convenient excuse for getting out of things they aren’t so keen on.<\/p>\n Maybe \u201ctraining\u201d for you (or me) would be getting out of bed 30 minutes earlier every morning so we could spend some time with God\u2019s word and in prayer before we head out on our day. \u00a0 Maybe \u201ctraining\u201d would be to turn off the television set for an hour a couple of evenings a week and visit with someone you know who is ill or in need of encouragement. \u00a0 Maybe \u201ctraining\u201d means devoting some time and effort to actually going to that neighbor of yours and talking to them about what a wonderful place Heaven is and how to get there, or serve in a soup kitchen, or deliver food and supplies to the needy, or\u2026 well you get the idea.<\/p>\n These things are hard!\u00a0 Training is hard work.\u00a0 It takes effort to run well. \u00a0 Sometimes it means making sacrifices.<\/p>\n We must also be careful about our consumption. \u00a0 An athlete is careful to eat only nourishing foods. \u00a0 And in the same way that what we eat will have an effect on our bodies, what we watch or read, the conversations we engage in and the things we spend time thinking about will affect the way we live our lives. \u00a0 The way we think. \u00a0 The things that are important to us. \u00a0 We can not expect to run a good race for Christ if we gorge ourselves on spiritual junk food.<\/p>\n So much of what the modern world offers as entertainment is violent, pornographic, hateful, and pagan. \u00a0 It\u2019s hard to avoid. \u00a0But there are alternatives. \u00a0 And it is up to us to choose what we will consume, what kind of thinking we will partake of and add to our personal psychological makeup.<\/p>\n Training is hard! \u00a0But it\u2019s worth it. \u00a0If the goal means anything to you at all, you will want to do your best.<\/p>\n Sometimes when we compete in sports as young people we do it because of the personal challenge, sometimes it\u2019s also a matter of making our parents proud of us.\u00a0 We want to do well for them as much as for ourselves.\u00a0 We want to make our heavenly Father proud of us don\u2019t we?\u00a0 When standing before the throne and our traveling Master takes an accounting of our life, we want Him to say, \u201cWell done good and faithful servant.\u00a0 Enter into your reward.\u201d not \u201cYou wicked, lazy slave, you have squandered that which I gave you.\u201d<\/p>\n We all have abilities.\u00a0 We all, regardless of our age or experience, or intelligence, or financial status, or physical ability, have God-given talents.\u00a0 How are you using your talents?\u00a0 Are you investing them wisely in the matters of God, or have you buried them in the back yard?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sports are a big part of the American way of life. We admire athletes for their drive, their determination, their dedication to the game, and the contribution they make to their team and to the sport as a whole. And these are good things. Christians Are Like Athletes The Christian life is a lot like … Continue reading “Spiritual Athletes”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[78],"class_list":["post-3827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-matters-of-faith","tag-christian"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3827"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3827\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21512,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3827\/revisions\/21512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n23 I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.<\/em>
\n 24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.<\/em>
\n 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.<\/em><\/p>\nNot a Competition?<\/h2>\n
\n1 “Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.<\/em>
\n 2 “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.<\/em>
\nBut it is clear that we are expected to make productive use of our time and abilities. We are expected to \u201crun the race with diligence\u201d.<\/p>\nUsing Our Talents<\/h2>\n
\n11 It is written:<\/em>
\n ” ‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord,<\/em>
\n ‘every knee will bow before me;<\/em>
\n every tongue will confess to God.’ “[a] 12So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.<\/em><\/p>\nHow To Train For the Race<\/h2>\n
We Are What We Consume<\/h2>\n
Why We Compete<\/h2>\n