Pastor Luis.
1 Corinthians 9:24-27.
“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. 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. Therefore, I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.”
A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to compete at the national Tae Kown Do tournament, and to be honest I did not like my chances, because the week prior to the tournament I had contracted covid, but I still went and participated, and to my surprise I was able to make my way to the final in which I lost, at the moment we went to the podium to receive the medals, I was a bit disappointed because if I had not contracted covid I might had a chance on winning. As I stood there waiting for my medal, I was reminded of Paul in his letter to the Corinthians, for in Christ we have a crown that has a value greater than any medal I may win, and that is the crown of life we have obtain true Jesus sacrifice. Also alongside the text we see an aspect of training, that the person who competes in the games goes into a strict regimen of training, the same way I trained for hours to compete at the highest level I could, and in times I found myself not following my diet and not training when I should, thinking I had time to make it up, and as Christians many times we don’t take training very seriously in the sense of our spiritual training, and we may find ourselves lacking in our spiritual discipline in the race of life, our spiritual life is one of constant discipline and training, just as I trained for this past tournament we need to train in our spiritual life, and even though there may be the temptation of not keeping with the training or diet, and we may tell ourselves I can make it up or I will be fine the reality is that it will aft us. As we reflect in this text, we must understand this, that the only way to be spiritual fit just as inner physical bodies, is true a life of constant training and eating right, for at the end of that training we may run the race, and at the end of that race awaits us the crown of life.
My prayer this week is for us to continue growing in our daily walk with God, and that we can develop a life of constant training and discipline in our spiritual life.