It Ain't Easy

1 Corinthians 9:24-27

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

The Christian vocation calls for maximum exertion of thought, speech, will, and endurance along with plain guts. To say the least, it is difficult to live by faith in Jesus Christ. The hard work of a Christian is too frequently ignored by arm-chair Christians and, I’ll admit, not often enough preached.

Of all human callings the most difficult is a profession of Christ. It has nothing to do with talent. Whether one is clever or clumsy, whether mentally challenged or excels, the demand is the same. Let me be blunt: self-governance of thought, speech, and will is not just difficult, it is impossible. None of us has mastery of the tongue (James 3:8), of unruly thoughts, or of a flaccid will?

I have tried to picture even one day perfectly lived in Christian faith and discipline, a day without regret or shame. If I can't even imagine such, how shall I achieve it? In all my years I have yet to boast of one hour of reaching righteousness let alone a day. No Christian can manufacture perfection.

In sports one may hope one day to bowl a perfect 300. The amateur may accidentally heave a full court basketball into the hoop -- once. The no-hitter in baseball is rare but isn't impossible. But reaching moral perfection and righteousness before God by talent, effort, or luck is hopeless. To imagine otherwise is delusional.

In his letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul does not promote a “zone” of Christian action by which to earn God's praise and achieve a little private satisfaction. It is said of athletes that being "in the zone” is an exhilarating experience. The truth is that being a Christian is most often wearisome hardship, persecution with continual struggle and strain. (2 Tim. 3:12)

Of his record-setting performance in Game 1 of the 1992 NBA Finals, Michael Jordan said, "I couldn't miss. The threes were like free throws; they just kept dropping. I was in a zone. It's like it doesn't matter what they do [to stop me]." The ”zone” seems to be a charmed place where mind and body work in perfect synchronization and seemingly without conscious effort. You can be sure this doesn’t describe the Christian life of which St. Paul writes.

“Without conscious effort,” “perfect synchronization,” and “charmed” don’t describe Christian faith and duty. The Christian life is hard-charging discipline of thought, effort, and will.

Paul doesn’t picture Christians as a gaggle of runners all competing to see who is better, but of spiritual athletes striving to live out that best of all lives given us in Christ.

It’s not about scoring higher or accumulating better statistics. The Christian is anyone who lives by faith in Jesus Christ, and the person who thinks that’s easy doesn’t know what faith is in actual practice.

The discipline and struggle of the Christian, the enormously difficult self-control and exercise of love is not what makes someone a Christian. Rather, it exemplifies Christ, confesses him, and reflects His living presence in us.

Our Christian life, for now, is here on earth where the life of faith is a cycle that begins with the gift of the Holy Spirit, concentrates on reception of grace and mercy through meditation on God's word, and results in spiritual attack. This in turn leads a person back to further prayer and intensive meditation. It is rigorous spiritual labor.

A Christian must not be a sofa spud or deadbeat. A Christian must not be aimless or worthless. Anyone who contributes nothing, volunteers nothing, tries nothing, changes nothing, and never takes a stab at living by faith is not a Christian -- NOT because he has to do something hard to become one but because a living faith in Christ dares to believe. We believe that for us Christ contributed everything, volunteered everything, endured the consummate struggle, and redeemed the world through His own sacrificial life, death, and resurrection.

If someone believes this, then the new life must, of necessity, will oppose with every fiber a flabby, carnal, and meaningless existence.

The Christian disciplines himself. He works and serves and struggles because he has not been called to be a bystander or mere spectator. He has been called into life -- robust, vital, and gusty life in Christ.

When it is so easy to be limp, baggy, or wilted, let us confess our puny faith and give thanks that living out the Christian life isn't easy.

“Enter by the narrow gate,” Jesus said. “For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” (Matthew 7:13-14)

Hear, hear!