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LIFE MEETS THEOLOGY:
Shuffling for the Prize
by Greg Williamson (c) 2007
COPYRIGHT RELATED INFO
UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED, ALL SCRIPTURE QUOTATIONS
ARE
FROM THE
New
American Standard Bible.
LIFE: I used to be in great shape. At age 17, USMC basic training took me
from a very pudgy (six feet and) 200+ pounds to a lean-and-mean 165
pounds. Then, with a few brief interludes, running three miles three days
a week kept me in excellent condition (at about 185 pounds) for the next
fifteen years. After that came the "supersize me" combo of school, a desk
job, and a lack of vigorous exercise.
Now, at age 44, I am getting back into running. At this stage,
however, it's less than accurate to refer to it as running, or even
jogging. Shuffling is the word that best describes my form. But,
hey, it's a start and, most importantly, it's enough to get my heart rate
up (which walking by itself is unable to do).
I hope to accomplish at least three things from my
early-morning-in-the-dark-so-no-one-can-see-me efforts: 1) lose weight, 2)
have more energy and less stress, and 3) live longer. That is the
threefold prize for which I am running -- uh, make that, shuffling.
THEOLOGY: It appears that running was one of the apostle Paul's favorite
metaphors:
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"Do you not know that those
who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such
a way that you may win."
(1 CORINTHIANS 9:24)
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"Therefore I run in such a
way, as not without aim ... "
(1 CORINTHIANS 9:26)
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" ... for fear that I might
be running, or had run, in vain."
(GALATIANS 2:2)
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"You were running well; who
hindered you from obeying the truth?"
(GALATIANS 5:7)
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"holding fast the word of
life, so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I
did not run in vain ... "
(PHILIPPIANS 2:16)
Running -- particularly long-distance running -- is an apt illustration
of the Christian life. In Paul's day it was a highly prized undertaking
in which competitors went to great lengths in preparing themselves.
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The
Isthmian games, in which the foot race was a leading one, were of
course well known, and a subject of patriotic pride to the
Corinthians, who lived in the immediate neighborhood. These periodical
games were to the Greeks rather a passion than a mere amusement: hence
their suitableness as an image of Christian earnestness.
"So run, that ye may obtain" ... are the words in which the
instructors of the young in the exercise schools (gymnasia) and the
spectators on the race course exhorted their pupils to stimulate them
to put forth all exertions. The gymnasium was a prominent feature in
every Greek city. Every candidate had to take an oath that he had been
ten months in training, and that he would violate none of the
regulations. He lived on a strict self-denying diet, refraining from
wine and pleasant foods, and enduring cold and heat and most laborious
discipline. (Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible) |
In his comments on 1 Corinthians 9:24, renowned Bible teacher of
yesteryear, Albert Barnes, offers some practical suggestions on how the
Christian can run in a winning way:
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Christians may do this when:
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They give themselves
wholly to God, and make this the grand business of life;
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“When they lay aside
every weight” (Hebrews 12:1); and renounce all sin and all improper
attachments;
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When they do not allow
themselves to be “diverted” from the object, but keep the goal
constantly in view;
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When they do not flag, or
grow weary in their course;
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When they deny
themselves; and,
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When they keep their eye
fully fixed on Christ (Hebrews 12:2) as their example and their
strength, and on heaven as the end of their race, and on the crown
of glory as their reward. (Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible)
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