
Winning is hard
I was chatting with a friend today about the battle that takes place on the inside of a Christian. You know, the one where the little angel is on one shoulder and the little devil on the other and each are telling you why you should or shouldn’t do a certain thing. Its like one half of you wants to do the right thing and the other half wants to do the wrong thing. I said to this friend, “I don’t know why it’s so hard to just do the right thing in those situations, why is it so hard sometimes to win over sin?”
Runnin’ with the Devil
I had this visual in my mind of being split in two, like two separate people…each striving for her own goal..one sin, one righteousness. They strive neck-n-neck until the last moment when one pulls out ahead and wins. Yay! …or oh no! So, how do we ensure that there’s a “yay” at the finish line?
Check out this scripture from 1 Corinthians 9:24-27:
Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.
Hmmm….this could apply here. If there are two of me in this race, I want to train the righteous one. I want to deprive the depraved until it has no chance of ever reaching the finish line. What does that mean? I read the Bible daily, studying it, applying it in my life, until the first reaction to everything is based on scripture. I must literally train myself for righteousness, so that part of me hits the finish line before the other, in every race.
Don’t let sin win.