Obedience is Training not Just Trying

All athletes practice strict self-control. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. 26 So I run straight to the goal with purpose in every step. I am not like a boxer who misses his punches. 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 Cor. 9:25-27

Have you thought about how easy it is for you to sin? I am not talking about the bad ones, even though many of us are lured into sins that cost us more than the daily little seemingly inconsequential sins. We sin every day, for most of the day, and it is a natural response to the environment in which we live and work. A lie here, a lust there and then that sin that we can't just overlook that really give us a feeling of shame. We ask ourselves with God listening, "why do I continue to do the things I know I am not supposed to do. I try to be a good person. I try to follow the rules. I try to be a good Christian example. I try."

Our Problem, Paul tells us, is that we don't train. We don't train at our faith and then we expect to get out on the field and try and we fail miserably. Living for Christ is not about trying to do right when the temptation arises to do wrong. It is about training so we will be ready to act when the time comes.

The basics of training are obvious. Read your Bible, pray, go to your weekly Sunday and occasional Wed. night worship pep-rallies, but real training happens when we walk and talk and see everything through the eyes of Jesus. Make our little decisions, our every day decisions through Christ. Practice the presence of Jesus in every situation at all times and then when we are presented with the temptation, we are in the zone. We have practiced this move before and it is more natural in the Spirit.

We have to train, if we are going to be true followers of Christ. If we are going to allow God to use us to carry out His plan on earth and be His witnesses then we have to be training and stay ready to step on the field.

Our Goal as Christ-followers is to live a life pleasing to God. The only way that is possible is to stay focused on Christ. Filter every life situation through Him. What would Jesus think, do, feel? How would Jesus respond to this situation? Am I training and in touch with Jesus enough to know? Am I being Spirit-lead?

You can't get there by trying. You need to train.

an apprentice in Christ in training
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