Bible Verses About

“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize?  Run in such a way as to get the prize.” 1 Corinthians 9:24

This is my favorite Bible verse.  I’ve had it memorized for many years.  As a young man, I often thought about perseverance and what it meant to run in such a way as to win the prize.  I wanted to live my life well and throw off all of the things that often hinder.  Perseverance has always been something very important to build into my character, and when I read Bible verses about perseverance like this one, I realize that I don’t yet have it.  I don’t run in such a way as to win the prize.  For short periods of time I do.  I throw of my hindrances and I run with perseverance.  But then I get discouraged.  I get entangled in something meaningless or I get bound up in sin.  And during those times, I care little about really living my life to the full and running with perseverance.  During those times, all I want to do is settle for good enough.

That’s why I love verses like this one that convict me that good enough isn’t really good enough.  If God were to come down to each of us and reveal His specific plan for our lives, all that we were meant to be and the good works we were meant to accomplish, I’m convinced that it would be so amazing and so inspirational that we would instantly throw off our hindrances and the sins we’re entangled in and strive to become the types of people we were meant to be.  God desires that we be people of character — confident, humble, wise, compassionate.  He desires that we really care about people and that we be people worthy of other people’s respect.  Our own selfish desires want us to just sit back and take life easy, to not excel, but to find what satisfaction we can from simple pleasures and sins.  The choice is ours about how we live.  Shall we run with perseverance, trying to get the prize?  Or shall we be content as we are and live a life of good enough?