toymom
02-19-2006 Sunday, 02:35 PM
This morning in our church meeting, I realized how our Christian life is like the olympics.
We were discussing Psalm 84 which says that we have highways to Zion in our hearts. Zion is the place where God is, the church, and the way to it is a highway that runs through our heart. That reminded me of the verses where Paul compares the Christian life to a race.
Quote:
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=6 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=alt2 style="BORDER-RIGHT: 1px inset; BORDER-TOP: 1px inset; BORDER-LEFT: 1px inset; BORDER-BOTTOM: 1px inset">1 Cor 9:24 Do you not know that that those who run on a racecourse all run, but one receives the prize? Run in this way, that you may lay hold. </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Hebrews 12:1 also tells us to Quote:
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=6 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=alt2 style="BORDER-RIGHT: 1px inset; BORDER-TOP: 1px inset; BORDER-LEFT: 1px inset; BORDER-BOTTOM: 1px inset">run with endurance the race which is set before us. </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
In Psalm 84, it tells us that on the way to Zion, we must pass through the valley of Baca, which means weeping, but that our tears turn to springs and then rain down as blessings.
I was thinking about the Olympics and that the atheletes have a goal clear in their mind that they run toward. Surely they have all gone through their own valley of Bacca - tears and hard times on the way to get to the Olympics. But, they are working towards a specific goal - the gold medal.
As Christians, our goal is Christ, and along the path of our Christian life, there are hard times. But our hard times will turn to blessings when we gain Christ fully.
My favorite gold medal winners are the ones who won the gold for the snow boarding. The boy they call the flying tomato, when he won the gold medal, said he had just had a great time and it was tons of fun.
I am sure he had some suffering on the way to winning that gold medal. He probably fell down lots of times, but he got back up and kept on going. And, he was having tons of fun! Christ wants us to have tons of fun too. The Bible tells us to Rejoice in the Lord always! Rejoicing is fun! When I end my life as a Christian, I want to have run the race fully and be able to say "I have run the race and gained Christ and it was tons of fun!"
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We were discussing Psalm 84 which says that we have highways to Zion in our hearts. Zion is the place where God is, the church, and the way to it is a highway that runs through our heart. That reminded me of the verses where Paul compares the Christian life to a race.
Quote:
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=6 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=alt2 style="BORDER-RIGHT: 1px inset; BORDER-TOP: 1px inset; BORDER-LEFT: 1px inset; BORDER-BOTTOM: 1px inset">1 Cor 9:24 Do you not know that that those who run on a racecourse all run, but one receives the prize? Run in this way, that you may lay hold. </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Hebrews 12:1 also tells us to Quote:
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=6 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=alt2 style="BORDER-RIGHT: 1px inset; BORDER-TOP: 1px inset; BORDER-LEFT: 1px inset; BORDER-BOTTOM: 1px inset">run with endurance the race which is set before us. </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
In Psalm 84, it tells us that on the way to Zion, we must pass through the valley of Baca, which means weeping, but that our tears turn to springs and then rain down as blessings.
I was thinking about the Olympics and that the atheletes have a goal clear in their mind that they run toward. Surely they have all gone through their own valley of Bacca - tears and hard times on the way to get to the Olympics. But, they are working towards a specific goal - the gold medal.
As Christians, our goal is Christ, and along the path of our Christian life, there are hard times. But our hard times will turn to blessings when we gain Christ fully.
My favorite gold medal winners are the ones who won the gold for the snow boarding. The boy they call the flying tomato, when he won the gold medal, said he had just had a great time and it was tons of fun.
I am sure he had some suffering on the way to winning that gold medal. He probably fell down lots of times, but he got back up and kept on going. And, he was having tons of fun! Christ wants us to have tons of fun too. The Bible tells us to Rejoice in the Lord always! Rejoicing is fun! When I end my life as a Christian, I want to have run the race fully and be able to say "I have run the race and gained Christ and it was tons of fun!"
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