Are You In The Race?

We see that God’s Word is beckoning every Christian to get into the race! Living for Jesus and His gospel requires us to understand our lives in this way. The Apostle Paul charges the Corinthian Christians not to rely on Christ giving away participation prizes, but that we must run with endurance as if there were only one winner! Second only to the Olympic Games, the Isthmus Games were held every third year in the city of Corinth. Every Corinthian citizen understood and loved the Isthmus Games. They witnessed the athletes’ rigorous training between events. They respected the strength, agility, and endurance needed to win a wreath of pine or laurel upon their heads. In the previous verses, Paul appealed to Jewish Christians through Scriptural and Jewish examples; now he reaches out to the Gentile believers through the mutual appreciation they each have for the Isthmian Games and the athletes who compete.