Twin City church of Christ Blog
“Apr 22, 2024 - I Discipline My Body”
Categories: 2024 Reading DevotionalsI Discipline My Body
Reading: 1 Corinthians 9:24-10:5
As another illustration of freely giving up rights, Paul turns to athletes. Athletes are similar to Christians in several ways: they run a race, anticipate a prize, and discipline themselves to achieve it. “Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable”(1 Cor 9:25). When ancient Greeks participated in the Olympic or Isthmian Games, they followed a strict regimen of diet and training, forgoing normal life. Athletes today rarely smoke or overeat because they want to win. Paul says his pursuit of Jesus has a similar intensity: “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 Cor 9:26-27). This discipline means that Paul is ready at any moment to give up meat to help his brother (8:13) or refuse pay for preaching (9:15) or become a social chameleon (9:19-22). He wants to run well because he wants the prize.
Meanwhile there is the constant concern that he will be “disqualified.” As an example of this danger, Paul reminds us of the Israelites who emerged from Egyptian slavery. These people experienced a tremendous salvation and were uniquely aware of God’s presence—yet they still fell. Paul stresses that they were all under the cloud, all passed through the sea, and all were baptized—yet with most of them “God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness”(1 Cor 10:5). The comparison is clear: just because we have experienced God’s salvation and presence does not mean we will automatically continue to please God. We can still fall in the desert and be “disqualified.”
We all battle being slaves to our bodies. Our bodies have needs and desires and resisting them often produces pain. Yet if we are unable to deny those desires and control ourselves, we struggle to live holy lives or to sacrifice our rights for others. “I discipline my body and keep it under control” is Paul’s purpose statement: I will be in charge here! My body will do what I say rather than the opposite.
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One Thing to Think About: Do I really want to please God?
One Thing to Pray For: A hunger and passion for self-discipline
