One of our favorite activities is watching our girls compete in athletics. Erica just graduated high school and had a lot of fun and success throughout her athletic career. Alyssa is midstream in high school athletics and Lauren will just be starting competitive sports this year in middle school. They play hard, have fun, and honor God. While we take sports seriously in one sense, we also know that it is only one part of the growth of our girls. They learn lots of valuable life lessons through sports. Erica has been yelled at, cursed at, pushed down and knocked out. But she wouldn't trade the experience for anything.
Paul often uses the metaphor of the athlete in explaining the Christian life. In 1 Corinthians 9: 24 he writes, "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize." One translation simply says "run to win."
Being a successful athlete involves many things. The most important may be self-discipline......denying self. An athlete must work out when she doesn't always feel like it. It hurts sometimes. It's uncomfortable. But it's worth it. Winning feels good. There's nothing like making the winning basket at the buzzer, serving an ace to win the game, or knocking in the game winning run.
The life of a flourishing, successful, fulfilled Christian involves self-discipline as well. God has given us the tools necessary to be a victorious Christian - His Word, His Spirit, fellow believers, and the promise that He will never leave us or forsake us. An athlete who has a fantastic gym, great coaches and trainers, and great equipment but doesn't put in the hours of work it takes to be successful is much like the Christian who lives an unfulfilled, unfruitful life because he doesn't spend time in the Word, in prayer, and with believers who who encourage and challenge him.
The life of a victorious athlete or a victorious Christian is developed through hard work and self-discipline. The spiritual growth process is a daily process with long range focus - to be like Him.
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