Original Entry Date: July 12, 2007
1CO 9:24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26 Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. 27 No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. 1 Corinthians 9:24-26
This passage is very special to me. It is the first passage of Scripture I had ever read on my own. Gary McCuskar (the man who eventually led me to Christ) gave me a “The Way” Living Bible during my senior year of high school. As a non Christian athlete my life revolved around school and sports. The first few months after Gary gave me the Bible I spent countless hours searching the concordance for words that related to sports, strength, and victory-man stuff. When I found this passage I knew I had hit pay dirt. To this day I have never forgotten this passage.
It resonates with manhood.
Paul wrote his letters to people and local churches and as such used terminology that the people would respond to. A mirror reading is reading a section of Scripture in order to acquire information about the people and the problems the writers of the Bible were addressing. A mirror reading of this passage reveals that there must have been men in the Corinthian Church who were athletes and/or soldiers. In reaching the men of the incredibly undisciplined Corinthian church Paul speaks to their athleticism illustrating the disciplines of the Christian life with the commitment running and fighting requires. Notice that Paul never condemns the fighters in this congregation; rather, it appears that Paul may have boxed at some point of his life when he writes, “Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air” (26).
The Christian life is like a boxing match.
I am not a fighter by training so bear with my ignorance. Shadowboxing may be great for training but at some point doesn’t someone have to be hit? Paul said that when fighting he “buffets (NASB)”, or “beats (NIV)” his body. These words can also be translated into “bruise”. In other words, a fighter’s training not only involves learning how to punch but how to take a punch as well. Paul knew how to take punches and how to throw them. The Christian life is not one of passive observance, but assertive perseverance and discipline. A man must train his faith like the boxer who not only trains to throw the punch but is trained to take it.
Men can take a hit. Men take hits.
As a man are you training your wife, your children, and yourself to throw punches at eternity, and take any punches life may throw back? Is your spiritual training teaching others to run away when trouble comes running at them or to stand and fight?
