By John Grant
“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.” 1 Corinthians 9:25
Our eyes are glued to the television to see the very best of the very best. We are watching amazing athletes. Not a one got to the Olympics by being unfocused and undisciplined. Dreams of gold can’t be realized without incredibly long hard days and years of focused training.
I remember as a teenager watching a young girl train for a position on the USA Olympic Team. She practiced over and over again day after day and week after week, just to make the team. It is often a fraction of a second that separates a gold medalist from a no medalist. After years of training, it is over in just a few minutes.
Why do they do it? Is it the sheer joy of being the best of the best? Is it to get their face on a cereal box? Whatever it is, there’s nothing new about it, as it has been going on for hundreds of years.
Paul wrote to the Church at Corinth and drew an imagery from athletic competition and the Isthmian games. He compares himself to an athlete who is running a race, and to an athlete who is training to compete. In athletics, it’s impossible to do both at the same time. The athlete trains until he or she reaches maximum ability and then runs the race. But for us, our lives are continually under construction. We are like athletes training for competition, even while we are in the midst of the race.
Most of us can probably identify with the thought of running through life. Life is a “rat race,” and we’re always “on the run.” Life is exhausting, and you just have to keep going.
For Paul, however, racing is different from merely running. Life has a goal, and it is toward that goal that Paul runs. At the end of the race – or the fight – is the prize. Just what is it that we hope our running accomplishes? What is the prize at the end of the race? Power? Prestige? Possessions? Comfort or security?
Athletes competed for a wreath of pine or olive branches. Paul is running for an imperishable wreath. The imperishable wreath is the goal of the Christian enterprise: life forever in the kingdom of God and that is a crown that lasts forever.
(a thought on life from John Grant )
You can comment on this devotional online at:
https://thoughts-about-god.com/blog/2012/08/11/jg_crown-that-lasts-forever/
John Grant is a former Florida State Senator and is a practicing attorney
_________________________________________
follow us on Facebook
follow us on Twitter
For Mobile Devices – God-daily.com