by Timothy W. Burnett
While in high school I wasn�t much interested in track. Basketball and tennis were my primary sports. Later, I grew more interested in track after spending more time in God�s word which compared it with our spiritual lives. Granted, pretty much every sport can be used to explain our spiritual lives. At the same time, God had a purpose for utilizing the foot race. Let�s dive into some of the related scripture.
A wonderful reference to the race is found in 1Corinthians 9:24-27, �Do you not know that they which run in a race run all, but one receives the prize? So run, that you may obtain.� (verse 24). A number of track runners participate in the same race, but only one will obtain the first place prize. All the runners have the same goal to reach the finish line first and obtain the recognition and prize of the first place medal.
Like the track runner, we are urged to run the full length of our spiritual lives with the purposeful intent of obtaining spiritual prize. God did not leave us without an incentive. According to Philippians 3:14, we are encouraged to �press toward the mark of the high calling from God in the name of Jesus Christ.� All track runners must understand this analogy. They run their very best, and with the best possible form, all the way through the finish line.
�And every man that strives for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible.� (verse 25). Everybody becomes temperate in the fields that they work hard in to master. This is true for all fields, but God tied it with track. People who work hard to master their individual field and racing events become disciplined and tempered in their events.
There were some good examples of this during a recent track meet. The sprinters seemed to fly like the wind. I could almost feel the wind rush past me as a 400M relay team dashed toward the finish line for a first place finish. How about the long distance races? They may seem uneventful, but each individual runner pushes toward the finish line with endurance and form. Step by step, lap by lap, slowly increasing their pace and stride, maintaining a steady breathing pattern, staying relaxed�then the sprint to the finish line.
�I therefore so run, not as uncertainly. So do I fight, not as one that beats the air. But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection. Lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway� (1Corinthians 9:26-27).
Successful track athletes have worked hard to master their events and are certain about how and what they are doing. They understand the importance of following through with their form and methods through the finish of each event.
The words �keep under� are better translated as suppress. We are taught to suppress our bodies and subject them to the certain form and methods for running the spiritual race in our lives through the finish line. Athletes must subject the members of their bodies to the form and methods they are mastering for the race. When their bodies start to break down and lose form for different reasons, then they begin to fall behind other runners or become as a castaway in the race.
What is our finish line? By rightly dividing God�s word, our spiritual finish line is the day that Christ returns for the born-again saints, also known as the day of Christ (see also 1Corinthians 1:8; Philippians 1:6 & 10 and 2:16; 2Thessalonians 2:2). Whether we as Christians are alive or dead when that day comes, we still have that hope and finish line set before us. It is our fantastic hope of glory from God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Home