The Need for Self-Discipline (1 Corinthians 9:26)
24 Do
you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the
prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in
the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will
not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26 Therefore I do not run
like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the
air. 27 No,
I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have
preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.
Lately God has been
telling and showing me how important it is to possess discipline and self-control,
something that is not stressed often enough in the church today. I've spoken
to people about it, I even taught on it, but still haven't truly grasped
the true meaning and concept of it myself. As God has and still is revealing it
to me, I can now look back to just a few weeks ago and see how I was living my
life in such a chaotic, disorganized, destructive, and negligent fashion.
A man without self-control is like a city broken
into and left without walls.
Initially after reading
this scripture I had a sudden curiosity with walls, particularly the
Great Wall of China, simply because it was the first thought I had after
reading this Scripture. I began to think about the purpose as to why it was
built and its importance as it still stands. The primary purpose of the Great Wall was to provide a measure of
protection and warning against impending northern (and sometimes southern)
invasions. The Great Wall
also served the purpose of preventing invaders from bringing horses in or
stolen goods out.
So immediately we
see that its purpose served as a "two way street” working from the inside
out. It was a filter, keeping out anything that was harmful and destructive to
its inhabitants. The emphasis is always placed on the how the wall kept
invaders from coming into the land....BUT folks fail to realize the manner in
which the great wall was always breached, occurring from the inside. Whenever
the great wall was breached it was a result of a betrayer from
within.
You may be wondering
where I am Going with this? I asked myself the same thing...
I came to the conclusion that
He who has no control over his own spirit, whether it has to do with pride,
lusts, anger, laziness, procrastination, or whatever, has a
betrayer within to overthrow the city of his soul.
So if you don't have any self-control, YOU ARE YOUR OWN
WORST ENEMY!
That Bible Says that there is a way that seems right to a man but
in the end leads to destruction. And what is very sad about that scripture is that many of us think
that we have it all together and that we are going to heaven but we are headed
straight down to the Pitts of Hell (I know it sounds Harsh but its
reality). I know because I was headed down that path myself, doing whatever I felt
was right whenever I felt like it. I thought I had it all
together until God showed me that I was blind and headed to hell. He
showed me how I was FOOLING MYSELF. He showed me that I was betraying
myself and that I could not trust myself. God showed me through scripture
that I was like someone who was running aimlessly. Like a boxer beating
the air. (1 Corinthians 9:26)
I thought I had it together but I had No self-control. Somewhere
along this race I had lost myself. I got caught up in myself and in the world.
Like in Galatians 5:7 (You were
running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth?) I
let something cut in front of me. I took my eyes off the prize. While I was
running I got caught up by all these distractions simply because I had no
control.
LAST, I would like to point out something that I noticed in 1 Corinthians
9:27, No, I strike a blow to my
body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I
myself will not be disqualified for the prize. HONESTLY, it doesn’t make
any sense AT ALL for me to spend my life helping others get to heaven and not
make it myself. He says I strike a blow to my body meaning I check myself so I won’t
screw myself over. I thought of Kevin from
the Celtics who appears to be very crazy to me. He
would bang his head up against the basketball or smack himself
in the face after he makes a bad decision on the court. I was
like why is he doing that, but then I see him the next play going harder than
he was before. He is telling himself to get it together because he knows he can
do better than that. Folks we can do better than we are doing now.
Not with our own power but by the power of the Holy Spirit. Let’s rely on God more;
running as we keep our eyes on the prize, remembering that everything that we
run by will follow if it is the Will of God. (Mathew 6:33)
BIG ups to Him, cause he
looked out again!
I felt like deleting this very post a number of times as
the enemy tried to plant seeds in my mind and my flesh began to distract
me with selfish thoughts but God preserved me. Its 5:34 pm and
I didn't eat anything and everyone that knows me know that Ain’t
Normal! I'm normally on my 4th meal of the day by now with 2 left, lol.
My prayer is that my nourishment comes from doing the will of the
father. I'm trying to be more like Jesus and sometimes that means
giving up a meal....or 4, lol.
God Bless y’all!
Emmanuel aka Babyfood
