Devotion:
For an audio version of this devotion, click here.
Read 1 Corinthians 9:24-27.
In the preceding verses, Paul described how he had become a slave to other persons, repressing his own individuality in order to share more in common with others. Why? So he could relate effectively to them and win them to Christ in love. In today’s passage, he lets us know that service in Christ demands discipline on our part. Paul uses the analogy of athletes, preparing themselves and competing well. The winning athlete does not run aimlessly, nor does the winning boxer go about beating the air. Instead, Paul says he is like the athlete who disciplines his body and prepares for the event in such a way as to win it.
What does this mean for us? We must learn to prepare for our lives of faith by training in the Word, in prayer, in corporate worship, in service to others, and in all the disciplines we know as means of grace. This means choosing to invest our time and talents for Christ, even when we are tempted by the world to invest them in less spiritual things. Paul reminds us that we do this for a crown (think of a victor’s crown) that does not perish but rather is eternal.
Give thanks today for a church home in which to learn and grow and rehearse for ministry in the world. Then pray for the discipline to turn away from those things of the world that would waste our time and gifts and instead use them to serve God.
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