Where Are Your Gloves?

Action

You must get involved to have an impact. No one is impressed with the won-lost record of the referee.

John H. Holcomb

Rom 14:5-8
One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and he who eats, does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God. For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself; for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord's. NASU.

Did you know that you were in a fight, or were you aware that we are all in the ring and that the bell has rung? So many would like to be spectators, they like to get close to the fight, they want to see the blows, but they do not want to get involved. It gets pretty rough in the ring and its so much easier to watch the fight than it is to get in the fight, after all, you can sit outside and be indifferent if you want, and be a friend to both sides later that way no one will be angry with you, will they?

I had a person tell me one time that the reason they were never greatly involved in church was so they wouldn’t upset either side. If they didn’t get involved they would not suffer the attacks of the devil, or do anything that would displease God. That’s called playing it safe isn’t it, or is it just not wanting to suffer any pain for the prize? Paul warns us of that attitude in 2 Tim 2:5 “Also if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not win the prize unless he competes according to the rules.”

Paul is pretty insistent on that subject, he reminds us that we are to be fully aware of where we are and what we are here for. In 1 Cor 9:24 Paul says this “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win.” Paul is telling us all that we are “IN” the race, you and I are involved, we are in the ring we are in the fight whether we like it or not. Then Paul says this to us in verses 26-27 of that same chapter. “Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.

Now do you see the picture, you and I are not referees, nor are we spectators, we are fighters, we are runners, simply put, we are involved. We are here for Christ, and every day we live we are living, running, and fighting for Christ. Now at the end of every fight there are judges, and we will be judged on how we have run and fought here, and it will be either a win or a loss, but for you and I, there will be no draws…God Bless.

Pastor William