Disqualified

"But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified."  1 Corinthians 9:27

Have you ever been disqualified?

There are all sorts of reasons to be disqualified.  In a race, you can be disqualified for jumping the gun, getting off course, tripping another runner, and the list goes on.  In elementary school I was disqualified in the potato sack race for walking instead of hopping in my potato sack.

In the Christian life, we can be disqualified, too.

If we say a prayer, inviting Jesus in, that is not all there is.  If we even lead another to our wonderful Savior, that is not all there is.  There is never a time to sit back on our laurels because we have arrived.  No, there will always be work to do.  Not for work’s sake do we do these things, but because we love our Savior.  These things are the evidence of our love.  It is the heart, the motive with which we do the work that our Savior acknowledges.  He alone is the one who qualifies or disqualifies each human soul.

1 Corinthians 7:29-30 tells us, “But let me say this, dear brothers and sisters: The time that remains is very short. So from now on, those with wives should not focus only on their marriage. Those who weep or who rejoice or who buy things should not be absorbed by their weeping or their joy or their possessions.”

And in 2 Timothy 4:7 Paul says, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful.”

It is not how we start, but how we finish that matters.  I pray that none would be disqualified.

Goodnight, Runners.