The World Cup: striving for the mastery

With all the global interest during June and July 2006 in the fiercely contested World Cup competition, it is worth reflecting that the Bible has much to say about the lengths to which we should be prepared to go to obtain the most valuable prize of all – the eternal life which God offers to those who are prepared to follow in the footsteps of His Son Jesus.

The Apostle Paul, who knew all about the Olympic Games in the 1st century AD, reminds us that, like the many hundreds of footballers who made it through to the World Cup Finals in Germany, an Olympic athlete would devote himself willingly to the strictest of training regimes in order to be fit enough to compete and win. "Everyone who competes," says Paul, "goes into strict training" (1 Corinthians:25).

We hardly need to be expert linguists to understand the pain and personal sacrifice that lie behind the original Greek word that Paul used to describe the competitor's "strict training" regime. Agonizomai is close enough to the English word "agony" to tell us at a glance that today's fittest footballers, like the strongest Olympic athletes in the ancient world, only reach the peak of physical fitness by pushing the exercise of their bodies way beyond the limits that most of us would be willing to bear. Tip-top physical condition, for men as for racehorses, is not achieved by simply lying around and hoping it might just happen. The old principle is as true in relation to physical fitness as it is in so many other aspects of life: "No pain, no gain"…

And while our TVs are giving us fleeting glimpses of the world's top footballers going through their fitness training for days and weeks on end in preparation for what they hope will be their day of glory in the stadium, we can be helpfully reminded of the lessons drawn by the Apostle Paul from this kind of personal dedication to what he calls "a crown that will not last" (1 Corinthians 9:25).

For if, as Paul says, such men are willing to make themselves as fit as humanly possible in order to win a title which they will only hold for a few years at most, why are we not willing to give our personal best, in the spiritual arena, to win "a crown that will last for ever" (1 Corinthians 9:25)?

The case of the Apostle Paul himself is set out clearly for us as an example of the permanent importance and value of a purposeful spiritual life. The devoted efforts of followers of Jesus to become more and more like their Lord have an ultimate aim which is worth far more than any Jules Rimet trophy, however prized and fiercely fought over it may be. In dedicating themselves wholly to the service of God, the committed followers of Jesus will finally reap an everlasting prize: "…the benefit you reap leads to holiness", says Paul, "and the result is eternal life" (Romans 6:22).

And that is surely something well worth striving for!

So how effective is your spiritual fitness training routine?