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How God Uses Your Spiritual Gifts for His Kingdom

The prize that Paul spoke of in 1 Corinthians is not salvation but the reward of Heaven promised to the faithful one who stays in the race. Paul mentions it again in his writing to the Colossians:

And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.” -Colossians 1:21-23

The Prize of Following Christ

This is just one place where Scripture describes Christians who started out well but didn’t finish well; they finished weak and carnal. A believer will never lose their sonship as family identity, but the Bible is filled with passages about Jesus rewarding those who run well and who fought the fight of faith well.

Not only does Paul speak about rewards and honor for the faithful, but Jesus is constantly teaching in His parables about giving an account for what we were asked to do. The prize—the reward of finishing well—was certainly on Paul’s mind when he wrote 2 Timothy 4.

He was near the end of his life and he knew it. He knew he would be judged by his works and was confident that he had “fought the good fight, I have finished the race … (2 Timothy 4:7).” Then he said that there is a crown that awaits him in Heaven. His next statement is about Demas who had jumped ship and left him because he loved the world more than staying in the fight.

Persevere Until the End

Many Christians started out well but didn’t finish well. They become carnal Christians who are born again but are still babies in their spiritual walk and maturity.

But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? ” –1 Corinthians 3:1-3, ESV

Yes, Christians can fail to persevere in faithfulness and forfeit the prize.

Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind” –Colossians 2:18, ESV

First Timothy is full of examples of those who wander from the faith—those who deny Christ with their life or who love money too deeply and become worse than an unbeliever. They had the faith, but they wandered from it. Serious stuff isn’t it? The prize that awaits us is the very reason we need to encourage each other to stay in the race and be all in for Jesus every day.


 

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