I Corinthians 9:24,25

I Corinthians 9:24,25 Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. The Apostle Paul uses a great word picture here. The Greeks had all kinds of athletic events in their Olympic games held five hundred years before Paul wrote these words. The Corinthian church knew all about the Olympics because they were Greeks themselves living on the Peloponnesus Peninsula. When a runner won the race, he went to the bema stand, the award podium, and received his laurel wreath. But made of green leaves, the laurel wreath didn’t last more than just a few hours. Just like any cut flower, the wreath was only temporary. So winning a laurel wreath couldn’t have been the runner’s real goal. The runner didn’t train so hard and run to get that flimsy little wreath; he ran the race to win and to be the first one to finish. And Paul reminds us that, although the runners competed to get a leafy wreath, we will get a crown of gold from Jesus Christ when we finish life’s race. But we should not do our best for a golden crown; we should do our best for Jesus, just to be doing our best. And as an added blessing, Jesus is going to give us a really, really cool solid gold crown for obeying Him. What a great deal! What a great Savior!