SUNDAY, OCTOBER 20 RUN IN SUCH A WAY THAT YOU MAY ATTAIN IT. - 1 COR. 9:24. In his letter to the Hebrews, the apostle Paul used a powerful word picture to encourage his fellow Christians. He reminded them that they were not alone in running the race for life. Surrounding them were a ‘great cloud of witnesses,’ who had successfully completed the race. (Heb. 12:1) Having clearly in mind the faithful acts and strenuous efforts of these forerunners would give the Hebrew Christians incentive to press on and not to give out in their race. Ancient Greek runners completely stripped themselves of any extraneous weight or burden that could slow them down. While we would object to their lack of modesty and propriety, they ran that way with the sole objective of winning the prize. Paul’s point was that to gain the prize in the race for life, it is essential for runners to remove hindrances of any sort. This was sound counsel for Christians back then, and it is for us today.
Posted on: Mon, 21 Oct 2013 06:30:58 +0000