THE CHRISTIAN’S RACE

1 CORINTHIANS 9:24-27; GALATIANS 5:22-23;

Christians are two things; disciples and pilgrims, disciples because we are followers of Christ and pilgrims because we are on a journey towards our home.

Our race or journey is not a sprint; it’s an endurance trek with a destination in mind. So how do we make ourselves fit for this trek? This is my thought today because the problem with ‘today’s Christian’ is that He is either too spiritual or too dependent on the physical abilities he/she has.

Paul best explains our journey in the passage above, the message version puts it like this:

 “You've all been to the stadium and seen athletes race. Everyone runs; one wins. Run to win. All good athletes train hard. They do it for a gold medal that tarnishes and fades. You are after one that’s gold eternally. I don’t know about you but I'm running hard for the finish line. I'm giving it everything I've got. No sloppy living for me! I'm staying alert and in top condition. I'm not going to get caught napping, telling everyone else about it and then missing out myself”.

*(I find that the message version of the bible gives a very physical interpretation to the scriptures while the King James is more spiritual, combining the two helps)

There are two sides to every commandment God gives; the faith side and the work side. The faith side is the spiritual and the work side is the physical. But it seems that today’s Christian has forsaken that balance and tips the scales in favour of which side is most convenient.

We now run this race in a way that when one part becomes too hard we leave it all to faith and forget the work and when it’s very easy we forget faith and leave it all to work.

To run our race, we have got exercises that we need to do to stay; the conditioning of our mind, body and spirit to win. Even athletes talk about not only being in the right physical condition but also being in the right frame of mind. The same applies to our Christian journey. We cannot stop the exercises of praying, fasting, reading of God’s word and expect that we will grow as Christians. Even the physical exercises of attending church, being good to people, getting an education, practising the things we read and learn; all this things remain necessary for our growth as Christians. Ignoring any side leaves us stuck.

Ever wonder why the greatest apostle is one which had physical opportunities that no other apostle had and one who prayed and spoke in tongues more than all the others, this is to teach us that we cannot ignore the importance of the physical things we do and cannot ignore the importance of spiritual things as well.

The fruit of the Spirit is Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, self-control.

The gifts the Spirit are prophecies, healing, discernment, utterance and many more super powers.

See the difference? The fruit which all Christians have are all things that can only be manifest with faith (spiritual) and work (physical) but the gifts which are add-ons are things largely spiritual.

As we go through the year, Let's remember this balance in every aspect of our lives especially in our Christian race.

Let us formulate plans that will help us run the race remembering that both the physical and spiritual are important.

Faithful is He who has called you who also will do it.