Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. I Corinthians 9:24-26
Paul was writing to people who lived in a city where they were able to witness Olympians train. The Corinthians knew of the rigor and strain that these professional athletes placed themselves under to win the laurel crown. The apostle points to the Christian life as being comparable to the same discipline exercised by athletes.
We might not be Olympians in training, but we run everyday in an arena of spiritual warfare. Our old nature pulls at us to do the opposite of what God wants us to do. Paul understood what it meant to sacrifice everything for one goal just as an athlete would train to win a prize before the governor or even the emperor. We fight to win the prize underneath the gaze of the Creator of the universe. Our arena is before everyone we come into contact with; our cause - the cause of representing the Gospel. Our prize is eternal and infinitely more rewarding than any laurel wreath or trophy or ribbon we could ever win on this earth.
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