I love words like: valiant, victory, courage and battle.
I grew up around athletic competition as my father was a coach. The noise of the gymnasium was my lullaby; I toddled through the infield at track meets, and climbed over the bleachers of the stadium, and even spent hours in the locker room.
Every learning analogy of life always referred to sports, especially football. That is why I embrace the writing of Paul, because he speaks a common language. I want to run the race, I desire to fight the good fight- not just to fight. I want my struggles and hardships to result in victory. And like Paul I do not want to box like one beating the air and striking without an adversary. It is necessary to aim accurately resulting in maximum impact; I want every swing to be effective - to count. I do not want to be caught up in the battle, and never see the victory. I wish to fight valiantly alongside courageous warriors! But to do this I must buffet my body; allow my body to go through strenuous training through discipline. To sweat and agonize, to take on the pain of breaking down, so that God can build me up.
I need to pursue righteousness, to be in right standing with God. To strive for genuine and true goodness. To chase godliness, which is the “loving fear of God”. I desire to be like Christ…to have faith, to love, be steadfast, have patience and gentleness of heart. I want to contend with honor; engage in a worthy and noble fight! To press toward the goal, to win the supreme and heavenly prize. Don't you?
God stands high above the stadiums of our lives, and He cheers us on. He proclaims our victory. God is surrounded by a great multitude of witnesses who join Him in the encouragement.
Therefore, we must throw off anything that would hinder us, anything that would entangle us from taking secure and accurate steps, any weight that would hold us back from running freely our race. We must not let anyone or anything the enemy throws in our path to defraud our efforts. The enemy will act as an umpire declaring us unworthy and and try to penalize us; disqualifying us from our prize. However, God will throw the red flag and challenge the call! After all, He is the Man Upstairs, He sits in heavenly places! He sees all; every play of our life.
Thanks be to God, Who gives us the victory, making us conquerors through Christ! We must keep our eyes on Jesus; avoid anything that would distract us. We need to put on blinders to the world and on our past. In horse racing, they often put blinders on the horse. Blinders equip the horse to see only the track in front of him. These blinders help to remove fear and anxiety. They enable his eyes to remain focused on the finish line, not on the horses pounding the turf just inches away.
Like the race horse, our focus must remain always on Jesus, Who is our Leader, Who is the Source of our faith. He has given us divine incentive to believe. He is also the Finisher of our faith. He is standing at the finish line, waiting to place the crown of victory upon our heads.
