I am a Christian
I am a triathlete. I am a TRIATHLETE!!!
Boy, does it feel good to finally be able to say that. It’s official. And it ranks right up there, but not above, “I am a Husband”, “I am a Father”, and the ultimate, “I am a Christian”. After 4 months of training I can finally say it. I am a Triathlete.
Now mind you, I am not a good triathlete, but I finished my first race and that means I can finally call myself a triathlete. I never felt right calling myself that while I was training. I had never completed a race, I had never completed the distance of all three events on the same day; I was just a guy who was swimming, biking and running every week. To truly call yourself a triathlete, or an athlete for that matter you need to compete. Surely you need to train to compete, but if we never enter the arena, never enter the contest, then what are we training for. I bought the right cloths to race in, I bought the right gear for my bike, I bought the goggles and the Lycra swim suit, (something no one should have to see on a middle aged man). But again none of these things made me a triathlete. It was the combination of all these things culminating in that event called a triathlon.
The Apostle Paul talks a lot about training ourselves as Christians. But is he saying that it is in the training that we show we are Christians, NO. He is saying that in the training we discipline our bodies so that we may then run the race to win. The Christian life is not in the training, it is in the race. We train to run the race. Just like someone can buy all the stuff, the cloths, the bikes, the Lycra swim suits; we can buy and pursue the things that will make us look and feel like Christians. We can carry our bibles, we can go to bible studies, we can sing songs and pray prayers, but if we don’t put the things we learn into practice and compete in the race, we are not really doing what Paul talked about.
The ascetic who beats his body thinking it will please God, is forgetting that Paul tells us not to train to please God, but to train so we can compete, to train so that when we preach the Gospel, which is what will please God, so we will not be disqualified. What Paul is telling us is that we need to put the things we train at into practice. What good does it do to study how we can trust God to provide for us, if we don’t run the race and actually trust God to do the things He promises? What good does it do to study, to train in the way of peace if we don’t run the race when the opportunity comes for us to turn the other cheek? What good does it do to study and know how to be humble servants like our Savior if we never actually run the race and serve? We can learn about love and understand it, but it is in the living it out, in running the race and actually showing it in the way we love that God uses it in amazing ways. We can study and learn about grace, but it is in the living it out, in running the race and exhibiting grace that reveals who we are as Christians.
One can read everything they need to know about being a triathlete in books or on the internet. But having the knowledge does not make one a triathlete. And training does not make one a triathlete if they never compete. Crossing the finish line makes one a triathlete. Being a Christian is no different.
RUN THE RACE. WIN THE PRIZE
And YES, I am a Christian and I am a triathlete. In fact I am a CHRISTIAN TRIATHLETE!!!
