Beat me, I want to be a slave

(I wrote this for class and I got so passionate I just had to share it) Many times throughout the New Testament, Paul speaks of the Christian walk in athletic terms. The majority of the time Paul refers to this as running a race or enduring strict training. I completely agree with Paul that a servant leader should be a good athlete, one who goes through training and competing.
In 1 Corinthians 4:9, Paul refers to Christians as being on display ready to die in the arena. Think about the words "ready to die". Shouldn't we all be? So often Christians can be mocked, tried, and face a harder road then those who take the easy path in life; Paul is acknowledging that we have to be ready. As a Christ follower I know I will face trials, and I recognize it's for the glory of God.
1 Corinthians 9 is one of my favorite passages because I can personally relate to it. Having been an athlete, a runner in particular, I understand the strict training that goes into conditioning; it is hard work, physically and even emotionally. “Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it a slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize” (1 Corinthians 9:26-27). Praise the Lord for such a heart! Living for Christ is certainly not something that is easy, but this attitude about training and willing to make my body a slave, perhaps even beat myself up a little for Christ, is so intense. That is what I desire whole heartedly. It is a challenge, but bring it on! We are running and competing for something that is worth fighting for.
In Galatians 2:2 Paul explains how he went to Jerusalem to speak with elders and be sure he was not “running the race in vain”. He wanted things to be right, to be sure that his message was effective. This makes me think of conditioning. It would be so terrible to know that after so much hard work and drainage, that it was all for nothing. Paul does not want this, so he is taking action. I pray that the life I live is not in vain either, but that my ministry may be effective and real.
1 Timothy 4:7-8 speaks more of a spiritual athlete. I love it! Surely it is not a bad thing to physically train my own body, but to train myself to be godly is so much more crucial. All of our labor and everything we have ever worked for in a spiritual sense is for Christ. In this verse, I feel as though Paul brings everything together to make the idea of athletic training a reality in spirituality. Paul is saying this is it, what we run after and make ourselves a slave to: Jesus Christ. I cannot express the passion these verses put into my heart. I am thinking of a song that says “to know and follow hard after you… lead me on and I will run after you”. The song reminds me of this athletic metaphor so much. I do not just want to follow Christ; I want to run after Him. I do not just want to try and be a better person; I want to go into strict training. I am willing to work and break myself down until it hurts because it will build me up and make me so much stronger in the end.
Hebrews 12:1-2 seems like the perfect way to wrap up this idea of running after Christ. “And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.” Paul is saying we have to try hard. We have to compete for the eternal prize, we have to fight off sin and worldliness and just keep our eyes on the goal. It's worth the run.

the pslam of my life

I feel so much like David right now, just crying out to God, How long will you make me endure this? How long are you going to make me suffer in so much pain and discomfort until you save me? I've been praying and praying and praying and begging you to heal me but you continue to let me suffer. I know You won't give me anything I can't handle, and I don't know how much longer I can take this. I am in so much physical pain I can hardly function and I try so hard to just keep going with my life but it's holding me back. The best part, God, is that we can't even find the source of the problem. I know it's there. YOU know it's there. There have been times when I'm even brought to tears because of this. I don't question your faithfulness.. not for one minute. I don't know what I have to do so that you'll take this away from me. I'm really ready and willing to do anything. God, please save me.