Called to Reach a Higher Standard
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matter too trivial to demand attention. But in view of the issue at stake,
nothing is small that will help or hinder. Every act casts its weight into
the scale that determines life’s victory or defeat. And the reward given
to those who win will be in proportion to the energy and earnestness
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with which they have striven.
The apostle compared himself to a man running in a race, straining
every nerve to win the prize. “I therefore so run,” he says, “not as
uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: but I keep under
my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when
I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.” That he
might not run uncertainly or at random in the Christian race, Paul
subjected himself to severe training. The words, “I keep under my
body,” literally mean to beat back by severe discipline the desires,
impulses, and passions.
Paul feared lest, having preached to others, he himself should be
a castaway. He realized that if he did not carry out in his life the
principles he believed and preached, his labors in behalf of others
would avail him nothing. His conversation, his influence, his refusal
to yield to self-gratification, must show that his religion was not a
profession merely, but a daily, living connection with God. One
goal he kept ever before him, and strove earnestly to reach—“the
righteousness which is of God by faith.”
Philippians 3:9
.
Paul knew that his warfare against evil would not end so long as
life should last. Ever he realized the need of putting a strict guard upon
himself, that earthly desires might not overcome spiritual zeal. With
all his power he continued to strive against natural inclinations. Ever
he kept before him the ideal to be attained, and this ideal he strove to
reach by willing obedience to the law of God. His words, his practices,
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his passions—all were brought under the control of the Spirit of God.
It was this singlehearted purpose to win the race for eternal life that
Paul longed to see revealed in the lives of the Corinthian believers. He
knew that in order to reach Christ’s ideal for them, they had before them
a life struggle from which there would be no release. He entreated them
to strive lawfully, day by day seeking for piety and moral excellence.
He pleaded with them to lay aside every weight and to press forward
to the goal of perfection in Christ.
Paul pointed the Corinthians to the experience of ancient Israel, to
the blessings that rewarded their obedience, and to the judgments that