In a race the runners all compete,
but only one receives the prize? (First Corinthians 9:24)
Of all Sundays, this is the one that most assuredly gets bumped by our civic calendar. It’s hard to compete with Super Bowl Sunday. The Apostles often alluded to the games as in “run the race” or “fight the good fight” (2Tm 4:7). The Isthmian Games, second only to the Olympics, were held just down the road from the city of Corinth where the Apostle Paul pastored. He noticed the competition and wove it into his letters.
Jerusalem of Jesus’ time sported an impressive stadium of its own—the Hippodrome. Maybe he even watched a horse race or two. One couldn’t help but notice the race horses “prancing proudly” through the city making their way to the track where they “quiver with excitement,” as God points out to Job, “at the trumpet blast and race off at a gallop” (Jb 39:19-25). So, let’s enjoy the Super Bowl; but watch to see if God doesn’t get Himself Glory. He has a way of sneaking into our civic events. Who knows?
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