KneEmail - a devotional by Mike Benson associated with Forthright Magazine
Discipline 2
IN THE ANCIENT Olympic and Isthmian games, an athlete would begin training ten months before the race...
A long-distance runner would submit to rigorous discipline. He would undergo disciplined eating and sleeping habits, an exercise program, and his daily running routine. He goal was clear, his purpose sure: to hone his body into the best possible shape to run. To win.
Then, one month before the games, this athlete would move to Corinth, ten miles from where the Isthmian Games were held. There he would submit to training under the watchful eye of a personal coach. This training meant early rising and long days spent in lifting weights, rigorous exercise, and pushing himself to the limit. All this to prepare for the games and to run the famous marathon.
Any success was due, in largest measure, to the intensity of his preparation. Nowhere is training more important than in the marathon.
THOUGHT: So it is in the Christian life. If we are to run God's race -- a lifelong marathon -- we must submit to serious training. We must run to win the longest race of our lives, and winning requires discipline. (Steven J. Lawson, "Pump Up and Air Out!," Men Who Win, 68).
KneEmail: "...Exercise yourself rather to godliness" (1 Tim. 4:7b).