“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” (1 Corinthians 9:24).
In the movie Chariots of Fire, the competitive Oxford athlete, Harold Abrams, watches his archrival Eric Liddell run. He’s afraid he can’t outrun him in a race. He’s sitting in the bleachers after the crowd has left. He’s alone and dejected, his head is buried in his hands when his girlfriend sits down to console him. “If I can’t win, I won’t run,” he cries. And she replies, “If you don’t run, you can’t win!”
There are many people today who reflect the “winning is everything” philosophy. To them, winning is not everything; it is the only thing, regardless of how it’s done. When officials at Cambridge confronted Abrams about the ethics of using a professional coach to train for the Olympics, he challenged them as being outdated, and He cried out that he would carry the future.
Well, in a sense, he did. He carried the future, which means that today how a person runs is often overshadowed by the importance of winning or losing. Cheat, be dishonest, use drugs or steroids, destroy your competitor, but win is the message that kids get. Is winning the only thing?
I often think of what Paul wrote long ago to the Corinthians. Paul had been there and had observed them. So, he wrote, “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. 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” (1 Corinthians 9:24-25). And, as he penned these words, no doubt the image of the Isthmian games, which were held in the city of Corinth, loomed in his imagination.
May I repeat those words, “Run in such a way as to get the prize?” Paul, of course, was using the analogy of running in a contest, relating to living in such a manner that a person obtains eternal life. In both cases, he held, there are rules or laws which govern what is acceptable, what is not acceptable, not only to athletic officials, but to God as well, and to violate those rules results in disqualification. Yes, Paul believed that winning is important, but winning at the cost of violating the rules is completely wrong, at least in his thinking.
Paul believed that, for he continued saying, “Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I don’t fight like a man who just beats the air. No, I beat my body and I make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize” (1 Corinthians 9:26-27).
The word Paul used (adokimos) which is translated “disqualified” or “disapproved” or “not standing the test” is an interesting word. It was used of fruit that was inspected before it was brought into the city, but not measuring up to the standard, was disqualified, adokimos, rejected.
So, what’s the point? Winning is important, but how you run is also important. In terms of reaching heaven’s goal, God has outlined quite clearly what is necessary, in spite of the fuzzy thinking which abounds today—thinking which is far, far off the game rules laid down in Scripture. While you may skirt the rules and win in running a race, you can’t violate the rules and win when it comes to life and God. “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight,” says the writer of Scripture, for “everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give an account” (Hebrews 4:13).
True, you can’t win if you don’t run; but neither can you win, if you run illegally.
Resource reading: 1 Corinthians 9.
