In 1 Corinthians the Apostle Paul describes to us in chapter nine a great prize. An eternal one, a reward, a crown. But the race for the crown has to be run in such a manner as to be worthy of it—to prove to God we can be trusted with such an honor. I find that to be a tad thrilling.
But what is more exciting is the prize has already been given us. And it’s eternal. It will not pass away. The way we obtain it has to be in like fashion. The race, the way we live our lives, our goals, the things we do—have to be done in such a manner as to pass the fire test when we stand before him. The imperishable crown, this prize waiting for us, urges us on to—once again—raise our pitiful carnal standards to the heavenly realm standards. Our actions will need to be vetted by the Lord, this is what Paul means by “in such a way.”
Do you want to write a book? Teach a class? Raise a child? Be a butcher, a baker, a candlestick maker? Paul admonishes us to discipline ourselves, for we represent the God of the universe. It’s a significant part of goal setting that we miss entirely. Whatever you want to be when you grow up will take a lot of growing up in the Lord to be. Even Dorothy had to be worthy of Kansas.
My husband who builds custom homes pointed out to me the other night over what I thought a romantic dinner out, why the screws fastening a door knob or handle should only be visible on the interior side of a door. I barely cared, but obviously critical to him, so I feigned its importance after telling the waiter to bring the dessert menu. None of our homeowners would ever know the difference, nor probably care. But my husband does. His attention to detail makes him worthy to build your home.
This is why we check people out. People we hire to watch our children, rent our property, walk our dog. We wouldn’t hand over our prized or material possessions to just anyone. As Christians, do we believe that God is going to check us out? Are we mature Christians, yet? How long will we be content with pablum? You can’t run a marathon on a spoon-fed diet.
In Handel’s Messiah, one of my favorite songs taken from the book of Isaiah is Worthy Is The Lamb. “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, and has redeemed us to God, to God by his blood.” We can never know that kind of worthy, but Jesus made himself worthy to the Father for us.
Are you worthy of the prize in 2019? The one that places you in a race where victory is a foregone conclusion. An adventure. A race where we will see his wondrous works to perform? Where the prize already has your name on it and no one racing alongside you can take it away?
Let the others run a race for the trophy that will rust and rot away. This coming year let’s run the race for the imperishable crown. With the one who made himself worthy to God for us, who trod the winepress alone, who is worthy of all our praise and devotion, all honor and glory.
Happy new year!