Healthy Living

Spiritual Athletes

by Terry Barlow
07/06/16
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The apostle Paul of the New Testament may have been a sports fan himself he was so fond of athletic references and metaphors in his letters.  First Corinthians chapter 9, verses 24-27 is one familiar example.  There he exhorts his readers to run in such a way as to obtain the prize, reminding them that runners do that in order to win a perishable crown, but spiritual runners in Christ do it to win an imperishable one.

If Olympic runners, for example, are willing to discipline themslves to the point of being “temperate in all things” or moderate in all things, how much more we who are striving for the mastery of things with eternal consequences.  Paul knew that serious Olympic contenders of his day were willing to let every area of their lives be governed by a coach or trainer.  This included what they ate and drank, when they went to bed and when the got up in the morning, who they associated with, even what they read, or saw or listened to, and so much the more as the day of the race or match or the day of the games approached.  Are we as believers as willing to be so governed by the Holy Spirit in those same areas today?  Paul was saying that at least an equal level of dedication and self-discipline is required in the spiritual realm, and even more so as the day of our Lord’s return draws nearer!

“For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.  This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance.” ( 1 Timothy 4, v8-9)  A culture that denies a spiritual need or an eternal realm would be expected to compensate for that denial by an overemphasis on the physical and temporal (temporary) realm,  even to the point of physical fitnesss fanaticism that has become a substitute religion in inself.