A runner training for a marathon trains first to finish, not to finish first. Building enough strength and endurance overtime to finish a race will equip them to begin working on more advanced facets of training and, ultimately, to be able to reach their goal of not only finishing but finishing first. 

Paul encourages us to run the race of life and faith so as to win the prize (1 Corinthians 9:24). Part of Paul’s point is to encourage us to run as those runners who win the prize. Why? Because they exhibit certain traits and disciplines needed to succeed.  

What might some of those fundamental disciplines be for us as applied to the life of faith?  

Daily nourishment — If the Bible is a textbook, then you must read it. But if the Bible is a living word, then you must have a relationship with it. Being in the word of God, being sustained by every word that comes from his mouth, is essential to our longterm health, strength, and growth. 

Daily refreshment —Prayer and meditation on God, drinking of his goodness and grace, worship, confession and repentance of sin, are daily ways of cleansing, renewing, and refreshing our hearts.  

Daily obedience — Jesus doesn’t command our obedience as much as he commands our heart. Our heart is what he is after. He seeks to make us new, giving us a new heart with new desires. So we choose to follow him even when we don’t feel like it. Our obedience today can help shape our obedience tomorrow. 

There are other practical disciplines involving our health and energy, our time and money, our work and plans, our communication and relationships. We are, Paul says, to exercise “self-control in all things” (1 Cor. 9:25). To run after God with your whole heart is to in all things surrender your life to him. Every facet of your life comes under his loving control. Like an athlete, we engage in strict, yet joyful training, all because of the prize. 

It’s important to remember that in running this race there is not just one prize, in that only the runner who finishes first will win the prize. There is no competition. Rather, in Christ there’s a prize for every runner who finishes. That prize is Jesus and the new heaven and new earth. 

We are all of us, then, to fix our eyes on Jesus, looking to him who has by his death and resurrection already won the prize for us (Philippians 3:7-10; Hebrews 12:2). Eternal life, joy, and love with God are ours in Jesus Christ.  

At the end, to have reached the prize, it will not be my great joy to hear Jesus say, “Good job, Jonathan! You finished first!” It will be my greatest joy to hear him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You finished. You won my race for you. You served my purposes for you in your generation. Enter into my joy which has been reserved for you.” 

Be the kind of runner who runs in such a way that you obtain the prize.