This is a world of soul building. Life is a race, from here to eternity (to infinity and beyond). We are the runners; each one of us is an entrant in the contest. This is a win-loss situation, and what’s on the line is everything!
So…how’s your training going? You are training, aren’t you? Because our preparations will impact our results. We train to improve the outcome of our race. Without training, we never improve, and may get worse. The definition of insanity: Doing the same thing and expecting different results.
Preparation requires discipline. Running a race requires training. No one but a lunatic goes to the Boston Marathon and stands at the front of the pack and rushes out at a 6-minute mile pace unless he’s trained for it. No soul receives God like the ocean catching the rain, unless he has prepared his soul to be so receptive. The unprepared soul is like a window that lets through a drop or two of water, and that only in a driving rain.
Michael Phelps, 14-time Olympic gold medalist, is perhaps not the best—not even a good—role model in many regards, yet his intensive training is legendary. He trains six hours a day, six days a week, even on Christmas. He swims 50 miles a week (I don’t even commute to work that far). The man sleeps in a hyperbaric chamber, to allow him to recover more quickly, as at higher altitude in, say, Colorado Springs.
He does all of this to win a crown that is perishable, one that will not last. Probably the only reason my dad could come up with Phelps’ name is the drinking and driving “issues” that Phelps had here in Salisbury. Who here remembers the contenders of the past: Ian Thorpe, Mark Spitz, Matt Biondi, Johnny Weissmuller? How about in another 10 years? Long after the gold medals these men won have tarnished, our souls will yet be reaping according to what we have or have not sown in them.
Training is strict (1 Cor. 9:25). What kind of training does our soul deserve? Let’s use Phelps for a comparison. More? Less? The same? “What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?” (Mt. 16:26).
We cannot accept excellence in one part and consent to degeneration and atrophy in another. Our training must be holistic. The runner not only strengthens his legs, but also his back, chest and arms. A butterfly swimmer must have strong arms and shoulders, yet cannot compete with weak legs.
We must master our bodily passions and physical needs. We must control our emotions and desires. We must command our thoughts and words. A well-trained athlete does not allow his emotions to distract his thoughts, nor does he allow hunger to divert his focus. The well-trained soul, likewise, manages thoughts, feelings, words, and actions, all to achieve one end. It doesn’t start the competition, only to turn aside, shouting, “Squirrel!”
“Strict training” is literally translated, “all abstinence.” Training requires giving up. The serious athlete does not stay up till 2 AM. He doesn’t gorge himself on candy and junk food. He doesn’t play video games when it’s workout time. Training also requires adding to. The athlete makes a habit of exercise. He searches for things to give him an edge. He creates and then follows routines.
Training the soul requires excluding harmful ways—the acts of the sinful nature. “Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Cor. 6:9,10). If going to happy hour after work means falling into temptation to get drunk, don’t go. When driving to church leads to fits of road rage, give someone else the wheel. If following politics or sports leads to delaying or cutting off short time in the Word, let it go. “If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell” (Mt. 5:29).
Also, building the soul requires adding beneficial habits. “Goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love” (2 Pe. 1:5–7). Set apart (consecrate) time each day for prayer, and to read and meditate on the Word (not just one or the other). Speak plainly and openly about the Faith, and about your faith. You don’t know who may be listening or watching. Last month, I was at lunch with a colleague, and we bowed our heads and said grace together. Afterward, the waitress expressed how uplifting (and, sadly, rare) it was for her to see Christians unashamed to return thanks. There are many other disciplines beyond prayer: meditation, fasting, study, simplicity, solitude, submission, service, confession, worship, guidance, and celebration, to use Richard Foster’s excellent list.
We are fast approaching the season of Lent. And I encourage you now to pray and consider what adjustments are needed for your training routine. If the first time we consider what we plan to do for Lent is on Ash Wednesday, we’re a day late and a dollar short.
Pray that the Holy Spirit shows you what exerts undue control on your life, what has an unholy grip on your heart, what distracts you from looking unwaveringly at “the perfect law that gives freedom.” Consult with a spiritual advisor. Do not go it alone! God did not call man to walk alone, but from the beginning revealed to Adam that he needed a suitable helper, one not found among creatures. Now is the time to lay plans, prepare now, so that when the race is afoot, we won’t still be tying our shoelaces.
There is a reward and a purpose to our efforts. We race for a crown that will last forever. “When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed… The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body” (1 Cor. 15:36,42–44).
We do run aimlessly, without direction. St. Paul became like a Jew to win the Jews, like one without the law to win those not under the law, like the weak to win the weak. He used different means to reach different people. “I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some” (1 Cor. 9:22). Paul didn’t change his ways—didn’t alter his training regimen—for novelty’s sake, as if he were ashamed of or bored by the gospel as formerly preached. Paul’s actions, his variations, were calculated to take him in the correct direction: “I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings” (1 Cor. 9:23).
“I beat my body and make it my slave.” The body is not the enemy; it is not evil. The body was made by God to be good. Hunger is good. Love of a man for a woman is good. Desiring excellence in your work is good. It is the disordered use of the body is bad.
The body does not rule the soul. Rather, the soul, through the decision of the intellect and the power of the will, rules the body. When the body rules the soul, death reigns. Pride. Greed. Lust. Envy. Gluttony. Wrath. Sloth. Animals live based on the desires of their bodies. Man may choose to live through the desires of the flesh, or may rise above them.
We do not fight like a man beating the air. Our efforts are all a preparation for what is to come. The race is real. The fight will be fierce. We shall not forever run intervals or shadow box.
We are preparing our souls for eternity either to receive God or to reject God. What we do here and now has eternal consequences. When you hear the starting gun’s report, it’s too late to train; the race is afoot. When the bell rings, the time for friendly sparring is over; battle has begun. Training is how we build on the foundation, how we construct our souls.
“For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Christ Jesus. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. If what he builds survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames” (1 Cor. 3:10–15).
Do not merely escape the flames! Do not be disqualified for the prize! Even St. Paul, who said, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1), took care that, “having preached to others, I myself…not be disqualified for the prize.” “It is the Lord who judges me… He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts” (1 Cor. 4:4,5). Saints, run in such a way as to get the prize.
