1 Corinthians 9:24 (NIV) 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.

I have always loved prizes, no matter how small. Back when I was a child, my mom and dad would buy cereal boxes that had a prize inside. Of course, I couldn’t wait till the box was not as full to make it easier to get to the prize, so I would dig into the box and make a mess trying to find it. Then there were the times when we would go to the amusement park. It was interesting and funny at the same time to see people spending more and more money trying to win a prize that costed a fraction of what they had spent trying to win it. There’s just something about getting a prize!

That’s why the verse of scripture above is so inspiring and incredible at the same time. First of all, we are not just running the race of faith to say that we ran it. We are running it to win and there is no winning like winning the greatest race of all time where you get the crown of life as a reward! The truth of the matter is that we are so blessed to even be in the race at all. We were in the poorest condition with no hope at all when the Lord found us, revealed Himself to us, and moved on our hearts to love Him and to serve Him. We are part of a remnant of people who are in the most important race in life. It’s so important that if you are not in this race, you are lost and in danger of losing your soul. But we are in it and we are in it to win it and to get the prize!

The other remarkable things about this race is that you win it by finishing it. Everyone who crosses the finish line in this race will get the prize. In 2024, there were 51,646 people who crossed the finish line in the New York Marathon. Although everyone who crosses the finish line is cheered as if they won (even the last person to cross it), only ten men and ten women actually get a prize. We, as followers of Christ, not only get cheered by Jesus and the heavenly host of angels as we cross the finish line, but each of us will get THE prize. The prize is eternal life and eternal life is Jesus. In other words, Jesus is the prize and running to win means running all the way to the end of our race here on earth where we will be able to say like the Apostle Paul said at the end of his race, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing” (2 Timothy 4:7-8). Let’s run to win and get that same prize in Jesus’ name!