September 12, 2023
Passage Read: 1 Corinthians 8-9
Meditation Verse: 9:24
Thought
These instructions and examples are not just for us to know what a great guy Paul is. He's telling us these things so that we too would follow in his steps, that we would live for the same purposes and with the same sacrifice for the sake of others. Paul tells us to run in such a way as to win the prize, as if there's only one who will win. He's challenging all of us to give up our rights, our wants, our wishes for the sake of the gospel, for the sake of those who do not yet believe.
Application
Paul wants every believer to live as if only one of us will win the prize of eternity with Christ. Talk about outdoing one another! Not attacking others; even runners don't do that! That would violate the rules of the race and disqualify the runner. Every believer is called to abandon selfish rights and worldly desires so as to reach as many as possible with the gospel. Forgive us, God, for our selfishness, for our lust for the things of this world rather than the souls of men. Help me to care more for souls than for anything else. Help me want to do better than everyone else, as if only one of us can win. Wow, what would that look like?