Competition

I have seen a fair amount of resolutions thrown about lately. Some of them are valid and based on real goals that can be accomplished. Many of them stem from truthful challenges. Some are...well, unlikely to be seen through to the end. Personally, I wasn't thinking about any resolutions for this year. While I think that "turning over a new leaf" is a noble sentiment and sometimes needs to be done, I don't like being guilted into things. I tend to make promises to myself that I do not keep and later feel sorry about.

However, we have a little--or not so little--competition starting at work this Friday. The employees within our company have been challenged to a "Biggest Loser" competition!

Source

Those who wish to participate will "donate" a certain amount of money to "the pot". The winner of the challenge will win the entire collected amount; also, our location is competing with other locations for a supposedly sweet trophy.

I am getting pretty excited about this prospect. If there is anything that I would say I need to work on most, it would be discipline. Discipline in my daily devotions, in my exercise, and in my housekeeping habits. I tend to roller coaster or yo-yo between "running a tight ship" and being extremely lackadaisical. I think it is an awesome reminder that the word "discipline" has the word "disciple" at its root:

dis·ci·pline 

noun, verb, -plined, -plin·ing.

–noun

1. training to act in accordance with rules; drill: military discipline
2. activity, exercise, or a regimen that develops or improves a skill; training: A daily stint at the typewriter is excellent discipline for the writer.
3. punishment inflicted by way of correction and training.
4. the rigor or training effect of experience, adversity, etc.: the harsh discipline of poverty.
5. behavior in accord with rules of conduct; behavior and order maintained by training and control: good discipline in an army.
6. a set or system of rules and regulations.

First Corinthians 9:24-27 states it this way, "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. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified."

In this chapter, Paul speaks of giving up his rights for the sake of the gospel. He knows that the ultimate goal is to glorify Christ and help people to understand His good news. Here, he uses the analogy of the athlete who sacrifices immediate gain or pleasure for a future goal. So the disciple of Christ must do--learn to exercise self-control toward the distractions of everyday life, preach to himself everyday before preaching to others, and develop a single-mindedness toward his future goal, the imperishable wreath. Which, of course, is the "Well done, good and faithful servant" he longs to hear from his Father.

I plan on participating in this challenge. Every week, I hope to update you on my progress (and I have a lot more to say about that, but I'll save it for another post). But as I discipline my body, I pray that God will use it as a parable in my life as to how I can better run the race He has set before me. I think that is a resolution anyone can make.