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Growing up I usually chose to learn things the hard way. I was efficient at making simple choices complex. When, as a thirteen-year-old Boy Scout on his first day of an eighty mile canoe trek down the California Klamath River, we came to a fork in the river, I chose the right. To the left was peaceful flowing water; to the right was the sound of water crashing on rocks, but I chose the right. My canoe-mates and I went off an eight foot waterfall, crashing onto to protruding rocks. The bottom of our boat was ripped off, and the boat sank. We continued down the set of fierce rapids without our boat. We were scared to death but laughed all the way down to peaceful water. The simple choice was to the left.
I’ve tried to learn from my mistakes (I have to admit, I probably would still chose the right river fork!). As my years have flown by, I’ve come to realize that for the most part, life principles are fairly simple. Most of our choices come down to the right way or the wrong way. There’s no good reason to make it all complex. In 1st. Corinthians 9, Paul gives us a very simple life principle. He says when it comes to daily living we can do it right or do it wrong. We can be proactive or apathetic. We can have an attitude that speaks of failure or one that says success. He compares it all to the athletic event of a footrace, and all of us are the runners. The way in which we train, the attitude we have about the race, the manner in which we run will determine how successful we are in the race: "Do you not know that in a race, all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in a way which you will win."
You can apply Paul’s principle in all areas of your life. When I was in business, I had the words "Run in a way Which You’ll Win" scrolling across my computer screen as my screen saver. Every morning, coming into the office, those words would be the first thing I saw. They made a difference in my day. When I was physically and mentally tired in the latter part of the day and was tempted to slack off, Paul’s words would often scroll across my brain and push me through.
The words make as much good sense in the business world as they do in all areas of life. They sound like the words found in motivational seminars. They work for the athlete as well as the carpenter or secretary. BUT... Paul’s words were not written for the purpose of our being successful in the business world, on the athletic field, or in the classroom. It was a plea for us to run in such a way as to win in our spiritual lives. In fact, running victoriously in our daily lives, being successful in our earthly endeavors is good, but when you win, what you win is a "crown that will not last" (money, fame, prestige, etc.). But if you run in a manner that achieves spiritual victory, you receive a crown that will last."
In our current sermon series we have been looking at a life that will be eternally victorious. The goal of victorious living is to become Christ-like. We can only do this through the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is in the Christian, and He’s ready to work! We have our part. We have to decide to walk in the Holy Spirit. Our part in this walk requires personal spiritual discipline. It requires us to control our minds, body, and spirit so that we can be receptive to Him. Paul writes in 1st. Timothy 4:7 discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness. I might add, discipline yourself for the purpose of becoming Christ-like. Dallas Willard in his book The Spirit of the Disciplines writes:
"My central claim is that we can become like Christ by doing one thing; by following him in the overall style of life he chose for himself. If we have faith in Christ, we must believe that he knew how to live. We can, through grace become like Christ by practicing the types of activities he engaged in, by arranging our whole lives around the activities he himself practiced in order to remain constantly at home in the fellowship of his Father."
It has been my goal in this series that there will be three results:
Come alongside me in this adventure! Let’s look at life as practiced by Jesus Christ.
Trinity Baptist Church
711 Fairview Dr. Moscow, Idaho 83843
208.882.2015
trinity@moscow.com
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Pastor Dan Bailey
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711 Fairview Dr.
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