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Beating the Air

April 25th, 2009 by Jeremy Sprouse

I recently read a humorous description of a not very serious fight between children. They ran at each other with heads bent, eyes closed, flailing their arms like wind mills spinning in the air, missing each other by yards. All they were doing was beating the air. It’s funny to picture kids doing it, but not so humorous a thought in our spiritual fight. Sometimes we live our Christian life the same way—flailing around with our eyes closed. It is worthless and accomplishes nothing. In 1 Corinthians 9:25-27, Paul tells us how we can stop beating the air and achieve something.
First, we need to compete. In these verses Paul uses athletes as an illustration. Athletes are competitors, not spectators. What about you? Are you a spectator for Christ? Is sitting in a pew the extent of your spiritual life? We need to rise above being a spectator and enter the race or we will accomplish nothing. Make a commitment to be an active Christian every day of your life.
Second, we need to take aim. Paul did not run without aim or beat the air (1 Corinthians 9:26). He had his eyes fixed on a goal and worked toward that goal. What about you? What are you aiming at in your life? What are your goals? Be specific. If you want to be more evangelistic make it a goal to reach out to at least one person a week. If you want to pray more, determine how many times a day you would like to pray. How many chapters of the Bible do you want to study every day? Remember to be realistic. For most people it is not realistic to aim at studying 2 hours a day. Try not to make goals you cannot reach. If we aim at nothing, we will accomplish nothing. Try making some goals related to your Christian life.
Third, we need to discipline ourselves. Paul beat his body into submission to accomplish his goals and live as a Christian (1 Corinthians 9:27). It is going to take work and dedication to reach our goals. Are you ready to put in the effort? Are you really ready to reach out? Are you truly ready to study everyday? We should be, we want to be, but we often make excuses. Paul gives us motivation to reach our goals: the fear of being disqualified. If we are just spectators, if we are not striving to be imitators of Christ, most likely we will drift away. Don’t let yourself be disqualified, dedicate yourself to reaching your goals and improving your Christian life.
It is easy to spend your time flailing your arms around with your eyes closed. It’s easy to sit on the bench and be a spectator. It’s also easy to turn off the TV a bit earlier and read a chapter in your Bible. It’s easy to set your alarm clock to go off 15 minutes earlier so you can pray before starting the day. It’s easy to ask your friend what he/she thinks of Jesus and start a spiritual conversation. Just pick one thing and do it today. Take one step closer to your goal today.

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 25th, 2009 at 7:26 am and is filed under Bulletin Articles.

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