Running To Obtain God’s Blessings

Photo by Lance Grandahl on Unsplash

What is the motivation for your labor? Do you labor to the very end? Do you finish what you begin in order to achieve the desired outcome?

It has been said, “It’s not how you begin that matters, but it is how you finish that really matters.”

We can begin well and with good intentions and not finish well.

We can also begin poorly and finish gloriously by reaching our goal and by achieving what we set out to achieve or to receive.

The Apostle Paul wrote the church in Corinth, saying, “I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings. Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.” (1 Corinthians 9:22b-24, ESV).

Paul ran the race of his faith with persistence and with diligence, so that others might come to know Jesus—for the sake of the good news.

Paul also ran the race—laboring with all his might, so that he too might enjoy the blessings of the gospel of Jesus.

Paul ran the race of faith to the finish line—he ran it to completion, so that he might obtain the prize of sharing the blessings of the gospel of Jesus, and so that he might also enjoy the blessings of the good news of Jesus.

Like Paul, may we run the race in order to obtain God’s blessings as we share the good news of Jesus, and as we enjoy the blessings of the good news of Jesus in our lives.

In Christ alone, Robbie

A Collect For The Tenth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 13: “Almighty and merciful God, it is only by your grace that your faithful people offer you true and laudable service: Grant that we may run without stumbling to obtain your heavenly promises; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.” (Book Of Common Prayer, 2019).

Photo by Lance Grandahl on Unsplash