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Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Eyes On the Prize
1 Corinthians 9:24-27; Hebrews 12:1-3
One way or another, Tiger Woods just keeps on winning and winning.
This Sunday, the 10th anniversary of his professional debut, he did it kind of like Indiana Jones. His performance the week before could only be called "clinical precision" from first tee to final putt. That one put him second only to Jack Nicklaus in total PGA tournaments won.
The apostle Paul never saw a 9-iron or a Nike swoosh, but he would have completely understood and appreciated Tiger Woods.
Paul chose athletics as his analogy for the discipline of Christian discipleship.
To follow Christ successfully, he said, you need to stay focused on your ultimate goal and pursue it with single-minded commitment.
"I don't run the race without a goal... I keep my body under control, make it a slave to my motivation to win... I will not flail about when I can use every motion to advance towards first place...."
Paul obviously was a sports fan. But I think it's clear he was some kind of athlete himself. Maybe he lettered in Graeco-Roman wrestling at Tarsus Tech before going off to the seminary.
In any case, he used a foot race to illustrate the cost of discipleship.
Every runner enters hoping to win, he said. But only one per race can come in first. So give it everything you've got in order to be the one who wears the winner's crown.
That crown, a wreath of laurel leaves, made you the emperor of racing. At least for that one race. But it was doomed to dry out, turn brown, and crumble to dust in the end.
But the Christian's crown will be solid gold, presented at the finish line in God's perfect heaven. Indestructible and everlasting.
So, all the more, Paul wants us to run to win spiritually all our life long. To keep our eyes on God's prize, and to let nothing block our path, distract us from it, or wreck our conditioning to keep pressing on.
Think of Tiger Woods' unrelenting re-examination and re-working of his swing, his full-course strategy, and his every-minute mental focus.
One more thing...
Unlike the Masters or the Olympic Games, the Christian race has no second or third place, no also-rans. The Bible image of heaven sees every person there wearing a winner's crown. (See Revelation 4, and the promise in Revelation 3 of a crown for every faithful person.) This is one race whose competition is not about beating each other. It's a matter of personal best performance. This race has no losers!
And then, in that heavenly vision, those champions do a wonderful thing. They lay down their crowns at the feet of Jesus. The same way that every one of Tiger Woods' victories pays back his father Earl, for all the mentoring and sacrificial support he invested to shape Tiger into today's amazing winner. On that last day, we will also get to say, "Thank you, Lord; we owe it all to you." And the crowd will roar!
And there you have your ultimate prize.
posted by Jack Buckley at
4:25 PM
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