Day 24

“A true athlete will be disciplined in every respect, practicing constant self-control in order to win a laurel wreath that quickly withers. But we run our race to win a victor’s crown that will last forever. … (verse 26 – 27)

– 1 Corinthians 9:25-27

Being a human on this planet, it is often hard not to be driven by your earthly purpose. If you know what your purpose is, then you are seemingly happy. If you don’t, then you feel lost. If your purpose seems far away, you may feel complacent. If it is approaching fast, you may feel overwhelmed. Those unsure about their purpose, or who feel like they don’t have one at all, may just feel like giving up and kind of wander through life never feeling satisfied.

The scripture above says that we are not to just wander through our lives for the sake of living, but we should discipline ourselves and train like a champion athlete. But how do we train for a purpose not yet found? This goes back to the fact that we are focused on our earthly purpose rather than our heavenly purpose. Our heavenly purpose is found in Jesus and supersedes our earthly purpose. God gifts us with an earthly purpose so that we may use it to fulfill our heavenly purpose through Him. We need to train ourselves to focus on our heavenly purpose so that we are not emotionally entangled with our earthly one.

Our heavenly purpose…supersedes our earthly purpose.

When training in the military, there were many times when we would be hiking up the sides of mountains with loads of gear on our backs. Normally, about half way through the hike, we would all start to get tired and we would start to slouch and look at the ground as we walked. Being bent over in that position and looking down instead of forward slowed our pace quite a bit, and it was not long until we would hear, “Lift your heads up! Look where you are going! Move with a purpose!” As 1 Corinthians 9 says, we have to keep our bodies and our minds under control with God’s Word so that we can be used to fulfill God’s purpose. I encourage you today: lift up your heads! Look into God’s Word to see where He is taking you!

Set your sights on Him and move with a purpose.

Stay Strong and Carry On,

Carrington