Run to Win! Today's Three-minute Bible Study Print, Study and Apply Title: Run to Win!-------------------------- Date: 6/1/2001 Keywords: "self-control" "prize" "win" Welcome to eXXit, the web site designed to help you stand strong in the face of sexual temptation. Passage: 1 Corinthians 9:24-27* 24. Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. 25. And everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26. Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; 27. but I buffet my body and make it my slave, lest possibly, after I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified. Questions 1. In these verses, Paul pictures the Christian life as a race to be run and a boxing match to be fought! Does this active image of Christianity "fit" the way you normally view the Christian life?   2. If a runner runs better than the other runners, and if a boxer boxes better than his opponent, what happens?   3. What is the downside to not running or boxing well (verse 27)?   Practical help These verses are all about competition and reward and activism. There is nothing in this short passage that would encourage a Christian to sit on the sidelines of life, waiting for God, for instance, to deliver him from the temptation to view pornography. No, there is a time for action — and the time for action (actions like walking away from the computer screen or clicking the mouse away from that porn site) is now! The stakes are high. While Paul does not threaten a believer with loss of eternal salvation (see Romans 8:31-39 for his view of how securely held in God’s grasp a Christian is), he does say that not exercising self-control results in being disqualified (losing). That disqualification is left unspecified — and the more sobering. Exercising self-control, just as a trained athlete does as he prepares for a major competition, brings a prize. What a hope for all who struggle against Internet porn. There is a prize, reserved for you, as you exercise godly self-control in the fight to stand firm against sexual temptation. Stand firm, friend — and win that prize! eXXit homepage Index of three-minute studies Copyright 2001 by eXXit *"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, © Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission."