Do You Want to Win the Prize?

BIBLE MEDITATION

“Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it.”

1 Corinthians 9:24

 

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT

Everybody knows that a runner is going to win or lose primarily by his endurance. When it hurts, you cannot quit. When your lungs are on fire, you cannot quit. When your feet are like lead, you cannot quit. When your sides ache, you cannot quit! When your head throbs, you cannot quit!

You can tell the size of a Christian by what it takes to stop him. I'm amazed at how some weak-kneed soldiers fall away. How little it takes to stop some people!

You'll never be a spiritual athlete if you're a quitter! You must “run with endurance the race that is set before you” (Hebrews 12:1) There must be determination! This thing of being a Christian is not a Sunday afternoon stroll.

This matter of being saved, of leading others to Jesus Christ, is a full‑time occupation. We must pray over it. We must weep over it. We must study over it. We must work over it! If we possess it, it first must possess us.

Every great athlete is possessed with a desire to win. I look sometimes at the Olympics and watch some of these young people as they've trained. I watch the swimmers and the runners, and sometimes tears come to my eyes. I say, "Oh, God! I want to be that kind of Christian! I want to live in the spiritual realm the way these are willing to live in the physical realm!" They are people possessed! But not so for so many Christians.

ACTION POINT

If we are to possess the desire to win, it first must possess us. This matter of being saved, of leading others to Jesus Christ, is a full‑time occupation. We must pray over it. Weep over it. Study over it. Work over it!

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers