Are you running to win?

Below is the sermon I preached last week in Goodson Chapel at Duke Divinity School on 1 Corinthians 9:24-27.  It was a privilege to share the Word of God with students and professors who have journeyed with me over the past three years in school.

“Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win it. Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable garland, but we an imperishable one. So I do not run aimlessly, nor do I box as though beating the air; but I punish my body and enslave it, so that after proclaiming to others I myself should not be disqualified.”

While this theme wasn’t fully explored in the sermon, never forget that God invites us to start the race, the Holy Spirit is our strength throughout the race, and a life fully conformed to the image of Christ is the finish line of the race.