Bodily Control
“Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.” (I Cor. 9: 24-27).
Humorously athletic allusions are found throughout “In the beginning God created the heavens and earth…”
Noah led the league in doubles… The prodigal son made a home run!… David pitched and won against the Giants. He struck out Goliath… And Lucifer played several seasons for the Angels, before he got cut… Now onto more realistic matters.
The text uses the analogy of a boxer to illustrate Christian discipline.
There was a technical term employed in boxing used in the text. The decisive first blow was the “fist blow under the eye.” It was the term of that era comparable to our term “knock out.” In our text there is a term used in the Greek and translated “I buffet” or “I discipline my body” (vs. 27).
In verse 27 the word translated “disqualified” or a “castaway” is “adokimos.” It was a word used to describe an heirloom that had become cracked and no longer being usable was put on a shelf.
Do you discipline your body? Is there ever a craving you desire that you know to be wrong and you say “NO” to your body?
Are there quantities of food your body craves and you discipline your body to abstain. Are there times your body indicates it feels lazy and you discipline it to get the exercise needed? Are there sexual drives you know to be inappropriate and you discipline your body and exercise self-control?
Like such a boxer we must mentally use our spiritual resources to control our bodies if we are to be spiritual victors.
Perhaps you are not as spiritually mature as you might like and at critical moments you have not buffeted your body. Failure to bring your body under control is a retardant to spiritual growth. In order to gain what you want; it’s going to require a measure of discipline. In fact, the reason you don’t have what you want yet is due to a lack of self-control.
Self-control means that we give up something that we want in order to gain something that we want even more.
A challenging question is are we willing to give up anything to please our Lord?