I remember in college that one of my friends had to run a 10k for a class that she took, and apparently I was a very supportive (or stupid) friend who told her I would run it with her! I was a college athlete but had in no way trained for the race like she had. We made it clear from the beginning that I was not necessarily going to keep up with her, but that I would morally support her by just being way worse than her. Oh the things we do in college...
Funny enough, I ended up running with a couple of the girls who lived in my dorm who hadn't trained as much either. We kept a pretty slow and steady pace throughout the entire race together and when I knew the end of the race was approaching I kept thinking, "I can go faster than this...", but should I leave these girls behind? I felt pretty rude leaving them since we had kind of joked that "we were all in this awful race together", plus one of the girls was having some pretty intense pain in her back that was keeping her from pushing too hard. But, I knew that I could run faster and I hated the thought of finishing without giving it my all... So, I took off! I left those suckers in the dust and ran as fast as I could the last mile! It felt pretty good... until about 5 minutes later my friends stumbled across the finish line and seemed less than thrilled to see me waiting for them.
I could not help but think of this race when I read 1 Corinthians 9:19-27. So many times, Paul refers to "running the faith race" in his writings and I always picture "sprinting" until the end! How else would you run a race "in order to receive the prize" except for sprinting? But as I studied 1 Corinthians 9, it seemed like Paul might not have been "sprinting" in the way I would have always imagined. Verse 19 says "For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them." It is almost like Paul is saying, even though I could sprint this entire race knowing that I will win, I am going to slow down and run alongside those who are not as fast, those who have experienced hardship, those who need help, because the goal is not being the first one to win the race.. the goal is to bring as many people across the finish line as you can.
It is important to understand what our goal is as a follower of Christ and "discipline" (1 Cor 9:27) ourselves to remain in that goal and to not sprint "aimlessly" (1 Cor 9:26) throughout our entire Christian race. Although Paul talks about running to win the prize, it seems that "winning" involves winning others to Christ and "sharing in the blessings of the gospel together" (1 Cor 9:23), instead of being the 1st to finish and wondering if the others are going to stumble across the finish line later. Are there people in your church who you are not sure are Christians? Are there people around you who are going through a struggle in their faith that you can't relate to? While it may seem that you are unable to grow in your faith while spending time with them, Paul calls us to "become a servant to all" in order to win more of them. While you may have to jog or even walk instead of sprint in your faith, as you walk alongside others in their race of faith, know that you are "racing" in a way that God tells you to through His Word and in a way that wins an "imperishable" (1 Cor 9:25) reward.
So Christians, the goal is to win others to Christ! Jesus' last words in Matthew 28:19-20 stated his will for our lives is to make disciples of Christ and teach them all He has said. His goal is not for us to bypass others on our way to Christ-likeness, rather he uses the walking and jogging we spend next to other racers to refine our righteousness and sweeten our prize. We will ultimately receive blessings together as we one day enter eternal life with the beautiful Creator of the race and the merciful Savior that allows us not only to finish the race, but to receive a prize. So remember God's goal as you race and don't zoom by those racing next to you..slow down and bring them into eternity with you! May we imitate Paul as he imitated Christ and run the race for Christ.
"I have become all things to all people, that by all means I may save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessing."1 Corinthians 9:22-23
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