“The Badminton World Federation has charged eight female Olympic doubles players with “not using one’s best efforts to win a match” (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19074013)
As soon as I read this news article this morning my mind was drawn to 2 Timothy 2:5 – “And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully.”
The word “strive” is athleo and means “to engage in a contest, contend in public games, contend for a prize”. The great athletic games of Greece in his time was without a doubt what Paul had in mind.
So, Christian, are you striving lawfully? Are you striving at all? If so, are you serving God and others with a passion that in this life is limited by nothing else?
Are your motivations what they ought to be?
Are your methods what they ought to be?
At this time of year I hear the farmers going by my home from before the break of dawn until after dark. Maybe they don’t labour this way all year, granted, but do my efforts ever match their’s?
We work for a greater cause and an eternal prize.
So, are striving? Are we striving lawfully? Or at the moment could a judge hold up a black card, as in the Olympics, and disqualify us for not trying?
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