Pastor Leon’s SOAP:  Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer
March 24, 2024: SOAP #5225: Joshua 18-20; 1Corinthians 9 (rewritten from 2011)

SCRIPTURE:  1Corinthians (NIV) 9:24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.  25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.  26 Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air.

OBSERVATION: Paul had just made note of some of the sacrifices he had made in preaching the gospel.  He compared them to the runners preparing for a race.  The runners considered it worth the pain of enduring the strict training as they look forward to the prize of winning the race.   Yet their prize was only a garland of leaves that would soon fade.  Paul was running for an eternal reward, “a crown that will last forever.”

APPLICATION:  The prize is worth enduring discouraging situations, disappointments, and any suffering!   Paul thought so; Jesus thought so; my dad thought so, and so do I.   I remember my dad singing: “It will be worth it all; when we see Jesus.  Life’s trials will seem so small, when we see Christ.  One glimpse of His dear face; all sorrow will erase; so bravely run the race; till we see Christ!”

PRAYER:  Lord, the course set out for me to run has been different from the course for others.  May I faithfully run the race set out before me in a way that will continue to bless others still running when my race is over.   Amen.

Pastor Leon
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