We who run with horses

“…but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified”. 1 Corinthians 9:27

In 1 Corinthians 9 Paul talks about his liberties, but in verse 23 he says, “I do all things for the sake of the gospel…” He gives the example of a runner and says to run with aim and “run in such a way as to win”, and gives the example of a boxer who trains “not just beating the air”. He tells us that everyone who competes “exercises self-control in all things”, and that we are to “discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified”.

The ‘SO THAT’ in this verse is most important to consider. How quickly our counsel to someone becomes weightless, no matter how well-orated and rooted in theology it is, if we don’t (or haven’t) walked the talk. How weighty and enlivening it is to hear the words spoken by someone who has endured, persevered, and pressed on regardless of the circumstances. Read Hebrews 11 and you can’t help but finish with a crescendo of emotion, excitement, and encouragement as you read “THEREFORE!” in Hebrews 12:1 and the great ‘cloud of witnesses’ of those who pressed on and persevered as aliens in a world of unmet expectations.

18th months ago I attended a prayer conference where I believed the Lord called me to pray for burdens to be cast off and chains to be broken in multiple specific long-standing pain points in life. This was a new prayer for me because for a decade I relished in the relative hardships because of the growth of experience with God that is gained during those seasons, but the leading of the Lord was awe-inspiring, and the timing was right because the exhaustion was real. Our family was maxed out and I’ve always allowed the Lord’s leading to be without a time clock of expectation for His action, but this calling was different. It was a calling for ‘now!’… or so I thought. I excitedly began praying and believing God was ready to move immediately in some specific areas; however, things immediately seemed to only get worse, and two options emerged. Either I cower to the burdens and wonder why God doesn’t release me from them, or I press on considering there’s always something ‘more’ to all this.

It’s interesting who God uses to speak into your life during certain seasons, but in this season the unfamiliar voice of Navy Seal David Goggins was heard. He was a guest on a podcast I regularly listened to, and the theme of the podcast was building tenacity and willpower in the willful choice of doing ‘hard’ things every day. Rather than just bearing the hard things that come your way, ‘stand up straight with your shoulders back’, as Jordan Peterson says, and willfully bear adversity directly. It struck me how weak-minded I (still) was, and how childish of me to say I’ve had enough and can’t go on. My whole paradigm changed, and rather than expecting a move of God to provide a release from the burdens, I felt a leading to willfully add one more, and a season of cold morning showers became the norm as I worked to reinforce how much stronger I needed to become. Two options emerge in that moment; I can cower to the feeling and squirm as I try to dodge the cold water, or stand there and shower as normal. To cower and squirm is completely illogical to the reality that no harm is being done. To stand there as normal and continue my typical showering routine is the only ‘logical’ response to such a mere discomfort. Considering that hot water is a handle turn away, it’s easy to think this is all rather foolish and give in to the desire for comfort, but I think this is an object lesson of where the real substance of a life lived in fellowship with the Lord lies. The same can applied to the discomforts of life. It’s interesting the prayers that come out of my mouth when that cold water hits me; usually, it’s “Lord, thank you that you’ve called me to a life of character and not of comfort” or something along those lines. In a season of discomfort, pain, and unmet expectations, it’s easy to turn the proverbial handle of warm water and escape it, but in that, we limit God’s providential care over our lives and the glory of sanctification that comes from it. We’re called to grow, mature, and ‘be strong in the Lord’, and if we give in to self-pity, ungratefulness, anger, lust, bitterness, consumerism, alcohol, or any other mechanism of escapism, then we’ve gone off mission to the glory that awaits. All the pain, discomfort, unmet expectations, tribulations and trials are but ‘light and momentary as compared to the eternal weight of glory to come’ (2 Cor. 4:17). The only logical response is to press on. And if our theology is truly rooted in the Cross, then we know that when all hope seems lost and God seems least in control, He’s actually most in control doing His greatest work. If you’re in a similar season, press on.

Stay on mission. Fight the good fight. Run with horses.

“If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with horses? If you fall down in a land of peace, how will you do in the thicket by the Jordan?” Jeremiah 12:5