I Cor 9:24-27 [Amplified]
24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but [only] one receives the prize? So run [your race] that you may lay hold [of the prize] and make it yours.
25 Now every athlete who goes into training conducts himself temperately and restricts himself in all things. They do it to win a wreath that will soon wither, but we [do it to receive a crown of eternal blessedness] that cannot wither.
26 Therefore I do not run uncertainly (without definite aim). I do not box like one beating the air and striking without an adversary.
27 But [like a boxer] I buffet my body [handle it roughly, discipline it by hardships] and subdue it, for fear that after proclaiming to others the Gospel and things pertaining to it, I myself should become unfit [not stand the test, be unapproved and rejected as a counterfeit].
I know this is a very familiar verse to most of us, but reading it in the amplified shed some new light, particularly a phrase in verse 25 “…and restricts himself in all things.”
All things? What does that really look like? There are, of course, the obvious things like (from an athletic training perspective) foods, drinks, wine, etc. But what about the not so obvious things? What about the obscure things? What about the unseen things? Such as one’s thought life… Am I restricting myself in my negative talk? Am I restricting myself in judgment of others? Am I restricting myself in condemnation – self or otherwise? What about doubt? What about the opposite; am I psyching myself up too much?
Am I more focused on me and my abilities or shortcomings than I am on Him and His sufficiency?
Keep me in check today Lord. I submit the unseen to your discipline. I submit the seen to your discipline. Help me to always be ready to run whatever race you place before me.