Paul used examples from athletics to illustrate principles by which Christians are to live. His readers, especially those in Greece and the surrounding areas, knew very well what it meant to be an athlete in the 1st century. Let’s look at some of those lessons.<\/p>\n
It is the Lord’s race, and we must enter and run as He dictates. There are rules to be obeyed, and they have not changed since they were first given. And the rules are not hard to understand (Ephesians 3:4). But some say we should read the New Testament as a story or collection of love letters. Surely the story of God’s love is the central point of the message, but seriously, am I to read Romans and I Corinthians as love letters?! When Jesus wrote the seven churches in Asia, His love for them demanded repentance, or else there would be consequences for not keeping His rules.<\/p>\n
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We must at first lay aside our old sinful habits, or else in the end, they will disqualify us from the hope of victory. And yet, there are other things that need to be laid aside. Can you imagine someone watching a track and field event during the Olympics, sitting in their recliner with a bag of chips in one hand and a cold drink in the other, saying, “I could do that.” Ridiculous, for sure, especially given how those athletes have trained.<\/p>\n
Now look at a Christian who has strong Bible knowledge and can skillfully use it to teach others. He lives with reverence, integrity, patience, and love. His children respect him and are faithful to the Lord. Sounds like a shepherd in the church, doesn’t it? But how did he become such? For certain, he did not allow the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things to choke out the word from his heart (Mark 4:19). He didn’t spend his life working and playing and then say, “I could be an elder if I wanted to be.”<\/p>\n
Discipline means learning to do the right things over and over again. Some think that doing the same things over and over leads to going through the motions. But didn’t Daniel pray three times a day? Did this “routine” suggest that he was just going through the motions? It takes more discipline to learn to do the same things with greater love and devotion than to change what we do.<\/p>\n
Running with discipline also means doing what the Lord asks, even when we might not feel like it. We must learn to worship, study, pray, forgive, and love our enemies, even when our emotions tell us not to train today.<\/p>\n
In 1980, the cross-country team at WKU won the OVC championships with all five runners crossing the finish line together. But that did not mean all of them had the same ability. A few weeks later, in the NCAA championships, they were each running the very best they personally could run. Only one of the five was qualified to be an All-American.<\/p>\n
Some will run better than others. They have had more time to train while others are just getting started. Others run better because they have decided to do so. They are willing to train harder. But beware, for if you decide to run ahead, you may be criticized. Some will think you’re strange (I Peter 4:4), including some of your own brethren. But we must run humbly, hoping that others will follow our example. Our example in the assemblies, at home, at work, and during trials does matter. Each will be looking out for others rather than themselves, even encouraging some to get up and run again.<\/p>\n
There will be days when our resolve to win will be sorely tested. There will be thorns in our flesh and some “Job-like” events in our paths. We may look around and wonder, like Peter, why some seem to have it easier than we do. What do we do then? Complain that it’s not fair? No, we will do as the Lord told him, “You follow me<\/em>” (John 21:18-22).<\/p>\n The victory is ours in Christ. We have a victory wreath awaiting us (II Timothy 4:7-88; I Corinthians 15:54-58). We must keep our eyes on Jesus, who has run on before us, looking forward to meeting Him at the finish line. Please, don’t ever quit (Galatians 5:7).<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Lee Wildman via\u00a0Biblical Insights, Vol. 14 No. 8, August 2014 Paul used examples from athletics to illustrate principles by which Christians are to live. His readers, especially those in Greece and the surrounding areas, knew very well what it meant to be an athlete in the 1st century. Let’s look at some of those…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[106],"class_list":["post-96482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-discipline"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":97383,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/soldier-athlete-farmer\/","url_meta":{"origin":96482,"position":0},"title":"Soldier, Athlete, Farmer","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 17, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Edwin Crozier Keep in mind the last sentence of II Timothy: \"Grace be with you.\" The \"you\" is plural. In other words, as with his first letter to Timothy and the letter to Titus, Paul expects the entire congregation to read this letter, not just Timothy. Paul is not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":92588,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/according-to-the-rules\/","url_meta":{"origin":96482,"position":1},"title":"According to the Rules","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 15, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Paul said that in athletics no one is crowned unless they \"compete according to the rules\" (II Timothy 2:5). Being \"strong in the grace\" that is in Christ (II Timothy 2:1) means we are diligent to operate our lives of faith \"according to the rules\" unless\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10035,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-a-parent-spank-a-teenage-athlete\/","url_meta":{"origin":96482,"position":2},"title":"How can a parent spank a teenage athlete?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 29, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have read some of the responses to Christian parents questions on spanking their children and teenagers. Many of my friends have trouble with their teenagers and often think of using it. The thing is what would a parent do with a teenager who is athletic, a soccer player,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":88726,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/love-your-neighbor-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":96482,"position":3},"title":"Love Your Neighbor (Benton)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 17, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton The command to \"love your neighbor as yourself\" is a wonderful rule to live by, but even it can be misused. For example, politicians who have little to no regard for the rule of God will reach into the Bible when they think it makes a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":37992,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/discipline-in-the-home\/","url_meta":{"origin":96482,"position":4},"title":"Discipline in the Home","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 16, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Irven Lee Truth Magazine, February 17, 1983 Children do not have the ability at birth to understand the language of their parents. We all realize this, but we should also understand that these little people do not know the commonly accepted rules of etiquette, nor do they recognize property\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":86785,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/like-a-child\/","url_meta":{"origin":96482,"position":5},"title":"Like a Child","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 24, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by David Gibson A couple of 7-year-old girls were talking about parents' rules. One said to the other, \"If they didn't care about you, they'd let you do anything.\" Smart girl! She saw rules as evidence of love, and freedom to \"do anything\" as a disadvantage. A Healthy Perspective Like\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96482"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96482\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Victory awaits all finishers (II Timothy 4:7-8).<\/h2>\n