It’s National Running Day! How exciting is that! I pretty pumped about it, especially since it was last year about this time that I had to stop running because I could barely walk up and down steps with my knee issues. Yesterday I ran 4 miles in 32:00. It’s amazing what specialized treatment, patience and training can do for you physical body.
If you are a runner, you can head over to the National Running Day site and get yourself a personalized badge for Facebook, or wherever, like this one to the left.
You all know that one of my favorite verses, and the verse the provided the name for this blog is about running.
Know ye not that they that run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? Even so run; that ye may attain.
25 And every man that striveth in the games exerciseth self-control in all things. Now they do it to receive a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.
26 I therefore so run, as not uncertainly; so fight I, as not beating the air:
27 but I buffet my body, and bring it into bondage: lest by any means, after that I have preached to others, I myself should be rejected. 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 ASV
said another way and is a little easier to read these days
24 Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! 25 All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. 26 So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. 27 I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified. 1 Corinthians 9:24-27New Living Translation (NLT)
And the great thing about this verse is that he is really talking about our spiritual lives. Just like a runner training for a race will exercise discipline and work their physical body, we must to the same as we prepare and train for the spiritual races that we run.
Let’s make sure we run to win! Train your body and your spirit each day and stay focused on the prize.