“Do you know 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. 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” (1 Corinthians 9:24-25).
Training is hard.
Discipleship is hard.
Becoming like Christ is hard.
Because Godly training and Christ-like discipleship is difficult it is easy to get discouraged. The reality is that no matter how much we improve, we will never be like Christ. No matter how much we try to live the perfect life, we can’t do it.
But, here’s the secret to discipleship. God knows all this. The goal of spiritual training is not perfection but progress. The main question to consider is whether you are making progress. Are you better today than you were a year ago? Congratulations! Way to go! Keep at it!
If you’re not better today than you were a year ago, let’s get back to training. Let’s get back to working on progress.
You can do it. You will be so much happier a year from now.
This is what spiritual training looks like:
- Read God’s word every day
- Pray. Set aside a time to pray every day
- Worship. Make worshiping God on God’s day non-negotiable. You can do it in person and you can worship online. Just make sure you worship
- Serve. Find a way to make a difference
Let’s get training!
Praxis: Faith in Action 