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Starting Out — Setting Goals
In the Word
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 (1 Corinthians 9:24).
Of the Word
Why do you run? Maybe you want to lose weight. Maybe you want to complete a 5K. Or maybe you want to have a healthier lifestyle. In any case, one should have some goals before beginning to run. Goals help to keep us focused and eventually, to mark accomplishments. Before running a race the goal may be to achieve a personal record, to cross the finish line first, or to simply complete the run.
Saint Paul is a good example of someone who had goals. He wrote in his letter to the Corinthians that he did not run aimlessly. He encouraged the believers to run that they may receive the prize. Paul, however, was not writing about a physical race. He used the race as a metaphor for the Christian life.
Paul served others in his ministry. Shouldn’t our goal be the same? Like Paul may we also seek to serve others for God’s glory. And at the end, by God’s grace and through faith, we will also be able to take hold of the prize of eternal life.
Walking with my Lord
Heavenly Father, help me to run the race of my Christian life by loving You and serving others so that, at the finish line, I may take hold of the prize of eternal life Jesus won for me. In His name I pray. Amen.
Mustard Seed: The Race of Faith. Author: Amanda Stacy, DCE. 7/28 ©2015 Lutheran Women’s Missionary League, 801 Seminary Place Ste. L010, St. Louis, MO 63105. Code: #40196
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations were taken from ESV Bible® (The Holy Bible English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
