What keeps us faithful to a Good God in midst of losing races and losing friends and just plain old losing in life? A holy fear. The Olympics ended yesterday. The crowns are more than a day old. They will fade. They will be forgotten. Paul compares the Christian life to a race---the Isthmian Games---that the Corinthians knew well for it was their Olympics.
So, is this about disciplining ourselves for a better life here? No, contrary to that, it is for that unfading Crown of the next life. I Cor 9:24-17 "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."
I love the story Ann Voskamp tells today of the first man to ever offer his life for another man in the history of Auschwitz, WWII. He wrote his mama a letter right before he volunteered to die in the place of his younger friend: "Mama, be tranquil---because the Good God is everywhere and provides for everything we love."
May we live in holy fear of that Day, that Embrace, that Good God.
I loved the story that Ann Voskamp told yesterday. Tears pooled up in my eyes, having seen one concentration camp I had a visual of what it looked like where the men were. That was such a moving story and oh, how it portrayed what Christ did for us. It made once again see a small glimpse of the magnitude of His love for us.
ReplyDeleteI so want to finish my race well. Anyone can start out well.....it is how you finish that is remember ed. We are indeed running this race on earth, not for the prize of living a good life and all that entails, but for that imperishable reward we receive in heaven, to lay back at the feet of Jesus.
"Do not run aimlessly."
ReplyDeleteBev, you said something that haunted me this weekend. Something like, "if we don't care much about serving God here, why would He give us more of Himself in heaven." Please redirect if I am misquoting-
But really, why wouldn't our reward pertain to how much we care here of Him. He gives us free choice. Even 1/3 of the angels fell to follow Satan. He gives us a chance. Run well. Finish well.
Phil 3:13-14 - But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."
I talked to Bob to ask him if he remembered studying about how our life here will affect our Eternity there. He reminded me that it was in a course that we both took when we were at Seminary. It is by Dave Dawson. I still have the book packed away in our Public Storage. Hope to get it out some day. The book is out-of-print.
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