Run To Win

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. (1 Corinthians 9:24)

You want to win at life, don’t you? Of course you do. You want to be successful in all areas of your life – professionally, relationally, financially, spiritually. Winning at each of those things is the goal. But, if you’re going to be a winner, you’re going to need to exercise discipline and you’re going to have to possess the desire to win.

In the race of life, we are all born running. If you have got to run anyway, why not run to win? Why not make every day of your life count for God? The first step to doing that is to have a real desire to win. A real desire to live a life that pleases God and blesses others. The first step to winning anything is you’ve got to want to win. Almost without exception, when two individuals or teams are competing for a championship, it is the one that really wants it the most that wins. Their fire burned a little bit hotter. Their desire was just a little bit higher.

The bottom line is we all do what we really want to do and what we really have a desire to do with our life. If you really want to come to church, you will. If you really want to read your Bible you will. If you really want to spend time with God, you will. If you really want to be faithful in your finances, you will. If you really want to worship, and serve, and be sent, and grow as a disciple, you will.

This desire to win inevitably leads to the discipline that’s required to win. You have to pay a price to be a winner, and discipline is the currency you need to pay that price. Discipline is what we need most in our life but want the least. At the end of the day, it is the difference between ability and achievement, between potential and the prize. I’ve never met anyone who was very successful in life that always did only what they pleased and only what they wanted to do. Zig Ziglar said, “When you do what you need to do, when you need to it, then you can do what you want to do when you want to do it.”

Do you have a desire to win at life? Do you have the discipline it takes to stay committed and to keep running after what God has for you? My hope is that if you don’t, you would pray and ask the Lord to give you that desire and that discipline starting today.

Dear Lord, I want to win at this life you’ve given me. I want to be successful by your standard. Give me the desire to be a winner and grant me the discipline necessary to persevere and to press on in pursuing what you have planned for me. In Jesus’ name, amen.