Yesterday was our day of races – the Pine Car Derby, the Grand Regatta and a couple of experimental jobs that could be part of this fun day in the future. Racing is so much fun. You get your car ready, make sure the wheels are aligned right, make sure the weight is OK, make sure everything is holding together, and run it down the track to see who has the fastest car. Zoom, crash, checkered flag!
That race idea was running through Paul’s mind as he wrote to the Corinthians. He wasn’t thinking of pine cars in I Cor. 9:24-27. He was thinking of runners, but the idea was the same. You prepare, you compete, someone wins. The “winner” in the race of the Christian life is the one who is “temperate (self-controlled) in all things” (v. 25), runs with purpose (v. 26) and disciplines his body, making it the slave of his godly nature (v. 27). You don’t win if you don’t do the hard work ahead of time to get yourself ready for the race. Are you running to win?