Faith Demands Sacrifice

 "Have you not learned anything from the stadium?  Many run, but only one gets the prize.  Run, therefore, intending to win it, as athletes, who impose upon themselves a rigorous discipline.  Yet, for them the wreath is of laurels which wither, while for us, it does not wither.

So, then, I run, knowing where I go.  I box, but not aimlessly in the air.  I punish my body and control it, lest, after preaching to others, I myself should be rejected." - 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 

(Paul is now ready to tell the Corinthians that they may not share the cult of idols.  To justify his position [for the Corinthians it was very strict], Paul presents two arguments:

- no racing contest is won without self-sacrifice;

- Scripture has many examples of how GOD punished those who practiced a cult of idols.

As athletes who impose upon themselves a rigorous discipline.  Like them, we must renounce many things that are not evil.  We need discipline to be really free, whether in the use of alcohol or tobacco, or not idly waste time in front of the television or reading magazines.  While the world lures us to be spectators and consumers, we must be agents of salvation, the salt of the earth.)

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