By: Elizabeth Haarberg

Why Battle?

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking this SoundCloud link.

People love a winner. We love to cheer on our team, but what happens when they come up short? When the players give all they have and can’t overcome the other team? From our armchair we criticize, boo, tell our neighbor in the sports bar what the team should do differently. Very few recognize the sacrifice and challenges that players have to overcome to play the game. I even wonder when Jesus died on the cross if his followers thought he, and they, had lost the race. Defining what winning is, is important in this context. Did they think, even though Jesus had told them many times, that all was lost the moment he took his last breath?

“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.”
1 Corinthians 9:24-27 English Standard Version

Why do athletes compete? The answers are varied: the sport is enjoyable, the competition, they are good at the sport, kudos from others, or maybe it’s for exercise and movement. I don’t know that I’ve met an athlete who wants to lose, but there can only be one winner. The difference in the Kingdom is there are many winners, in fact, all humans are invited to eternal life but few will accept the invite.

“For many are called (invited and summoned), but few are chosen.”
Matthew 22:14 Amplified Bible, Classic Edition

Running the race in Christ is similar to what we see in sports. The road gets difficult at times and we decide if we will persevere or quit. The journey also gets mundane and it is up to us to reignite the flame that is always offered to us by God. Push through even when you don’t feel like it. Pick up a verse and meditate, pray, worship. Connect with God in some way everyday, even when you don’t feel like it. Soon the spark will ignite and the Holy Spirit will become a hot flame inside of you.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado