Training for the Right Race?

1 Corinthians  9:24-27 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. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

This weekend, I watched a quite famous fishing tournament on television. Many of you know the Bassmaster Classic tournament. It is the super bowl of the fresh water fishing world, especially in the southern half of the United States. It is a grueling, multi-day bass tournament. The simple goal of the tournament is to identify the person who catches the heaviest string of legally-caught bass. Those in this tournament have found themselves at this level after investing thousands of hours of time and energy.

Before the Lord got a grip on me, my dream was to become a professional bass fisherman. My desire was to own a high-performance bass boat and fish tournaments, maybe even to make some money doing so. I bought different books on fishing patterns and studied what boats the pros used, as well as what their strategies looked like in terms of equipment, type of presentation, and the kinds of lures they used. My fishing really improved. Today I have a fair amount of confidence every time I fish.

"In addition to quality equipment an lures, the truly exceptional and famous fishermen have something extra you cannot buy--patience and mental toughness."

In addition to quality equipment and lures, the truly exceptional and famous fishermen have something extra you cannot buy—patience and mental toughness. You can only get that on the water, with a lot of time and training. Even with the most determined mind, this patience and mental toughness can be an elusive thing, never to be fully attained. In our verse today, Paul speaks of the training intensity that a runner must experience to attain the prize. Picture the amount of time, stress and pain the mind and body must go through to acquire the mental toughness to win a marathon or the Bassmaster Classic: getting up before dawn, running or fishing in the rain, trying to keep good balance while running or casting endlessly into the wind. Is that the kind of intensity Paul wants of us when he declares, "No, I beat my body and make it my slave"? 

Training for the Leadership Race

By now, I suspect you are beginning to get the point of this exhortation for leaders. Friends, if you are a leader, you are in a race. My question to you is: how is your training going? Paul states that his training as an apostle is not "aimless,” and yours shouldn’t be either. If you are a business person reading this, how are you learning to improve your leadership? Are you going to financial seminars thinking that you will learn how to lead people? How about some of you pastors and ministry leaders out there? Are you going to theology conferences thinking you can become better leaders? Folks, I will admit that studying how to catch walleye might bring some benefit to the bass fisherman. However, to become an effective bass fisherman, you need to study bass!

"If you want to be a better leader, study leadership!"

And so it is with leadership—if you want to be a better leader, study leadership! Spend time talking leadership with other leaders; go to leadership classes; brainstorm with those you lead to discover what they need to improve performance. As their leader, set those you lead up for success! If you want the prize for leadership, don't just train when you have extra time or when the sun is shining. Try doing it when the waves are high and your boat is blowing all over the place!

Striving for the Prize

Is leadership one of the races you signed up for? I would suspect that it is, since you still subscribe to this exhortation of mine. I would also think leadership might not be your only race. In fact, many of us are in more than one race. If this is true for you, it only means you need to be a bit more intentional about the specifics of your training program. You need to effectively cross train so that you’re fit and prepared for all the races you run.

Paul knew that more than one person was going to get the "prize" he was training for. He just emphasized the importance of strict training by highlighting the satisfaction of getting our prize. When we do so, we will share with him an enduring crown that no one can take away.

Just remember that training is necessary in pursuit of our prize.