May I Quote You?

Olympic dedication (a repost)

NOTE: Originally posted on August 1, 2012

Olympic athletes sacrifice so much. Everything they do is directed toward the single goal of winning a medal. They completely amend their diets. They dedicate hours and hours to training. They forego all sorts of things they enjoy — television, movies, family events, vacations — all for the sake of their goal. They uproot their very lives to move to a place where they can obtain better training. They sacrifice just about everything — all for the sake of a trinket.

In 1 Corinthians the apostle Paul compares the dedication of athletes to the dedication of Christians.

“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. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.” — 1 Corinthians 9:24-25

If an athlete can exercise self-control in all things for the sake of something that will eventually turn to dust, why can’t Christians seem to exercise an equal amount of self-control and dedication for the sake of something that is priceless and eternal?

May I Quote You?