IBS Application for 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.”

Paul certainly enjoyed making comparisons between how we go about walking the walk of faith with Jesus and how athletes train their bodies. It takes discipline to do both, and as Paul regularly pointed out, it in fact is comparable to that of physical training. The author of Hebrews makes a similar comparison between walking in faith and running a race in chapter 12 of that book, when they write that in order to run the race well, we ought to run it with endurance and throw off any weights or sins that hold us back.

A good deal has been done by God through these writers to get us, the modern day church, to realize that this path we’re on in diligently seeking Jesus is much like running a race. In a race, not everyone finishes first, and therefore the rewards aren’t the same for everyone. For us, the judgement of the work we’ve genuinely done for the Lord, not for our own glory, which is the Bema seat judgement, is where God determines what rewards we shall receive for living our lives for Him. This is why Paul makes it a point to encourage the Corinthians to run their individual races well. He wanted them to obtain the prizes that God had in store for them should they do well in serving Him.

But something of note here in this passage is that Paul talks specifically about having the discipline of self-control in the same way that an athlete exercises it in their training. He says that he disciplines his own body for the sake of not falling into the fault of behaving recklessly in his preaching. He says that such irresponsibility would disqualify him from the prize that he is running towards. I believe that this is because doing such a thing would be demonstrative of a lack of reverence for God, and a desire to serve oneself in some way.

We are called, as Paul was, to be good ministers to the world. This is our race, and Christ is our goal. We can only really attain His righteousness and share in the glory He offers us when we surrender ourselves over to His will and love Him with everything we are. Ultimately, we mustn’t forget that true discipline over any of these areas of our faith comes through such a complete and total surrender to the will of God. This isn’t to say that we cannot take some steps on our part to act in faith to what He has called us to do. God asks that we would be available to Him; this doesn’t mean that we never respond, expecting Him to do all of the work. That isn’t how a relationship works.

My application for this IBS will be to spend some time in prayer over the next few days asking God for new opportunities to exercise my faith in order for it to grow. If I feel like God is pointing out a specific part of my walk that needs improvement, I will take note of it and seek guidance from Him as to how He would have me improve it, if He would have me do anything at all. So, if it is something that He wants to work out within me Himself, I will give such a thing up to Him to do with me what He wills. I will also pray for greater focus upon who Christ is, that I may be made more like Him as I grow, seeing as how He is the ultimate goal and prize.