Training for the Prize

This past April, I got to watch the Boston Marathon for the first time. We got there in time to see John Korir, the 2026 champion (and record breaker), sprint past us to the end of the race. While you’re watching it, you can’t help but wonder about the number of years and amount of training it must have taken to get to that level. Watching someone run a marathon at a 4:39 pace, seemingly effortlessly, is an astounding thing to witness.

The “effortless” race-day run is the result of intense training and sacrifice. John Korir averages about 120 to 140 miles per week to maintain his elite marathon pace. He has to maintain a certain physique. The training process that led to his 2026 win was painful and rigorous. How was he able to endure the pain, sacrifice, and rigorous training? The prize that awaited him at the finish line.

Oftentimes in the New Testament, running a race is used as an analogy for the life of a Christian. In 1 Corinthians 9:24–27, Paul says:

“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.” (ESV)

This analogy is appealing when we imagine ourselves as John Korir sprinting toward the finish line, but not as much so when we imagine ourselves enduring the painful training and discipline that it takes to get to that level of endurance and speed.

We begin to get a picture of the training and discipline required to earn the imperishable wreath in the verses prior to verse 24, where Paul lists the rights he has given up for the sake of the gospel of Christ.

“Do we not have the right to eat and drink? Do we not have the right to take along a believing wife, as do the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas? Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living... Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right, but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 9:4–6, 12, ESV)

Paul gives up his right to eat and drink certain foods, his right to marry, and his right to make a living based on his ministry for the sake of the gospel. Although he has these rights in Christ, he willingly gives them up for the sake of the Corinthian church, not wanting anything to act as a hindrance in their walk with the Lord.

He continues to further explain why he has given up these rights in verses 15–19.

“But I have made no use of any of these rights, nor am I writing to secure any such provision. For I would rather die than have anyone deprive me of my ground for boasting. For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward, but if not of my own will, I am still entrusted with stewardship. What then is my reward? That in my preaching I may present the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel. For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all that I might win more of them.” (1 Corinthians 9:15–19, ESV)

Interestingly, his reasoning behind becoming a servant to all is that he might win more of them, as in, winning more lost souls for Christ. This context helps us to better comprehend what Paul means when he talks about running to obtain or win the prize in verse 24.

As Paul runs his race toward the imperishable prize, he runs with intentionality and trains with discipline and self-control. Yet, contrary to the selfishness required to obtain perishable prizes, what is required to obtain the imperishable prize is servanthood.

Paul willingly becomes a servant to all so that he might win more of them. The purpose in Paul giving up his rights is to win. He is not running aimlessly, boxing as one beating the air; he is running to win the prize ahead.

Servanthood is the painful training that gives growth to our spiritual muscles, improves our endurance, and gets us that much closer to winning the prize ahead. Something we say often at King’s Hill Church is, “The way up is down.” The way we are exalted is through humbling ourselves, or through becoming servants. This truth reigns when we consider running our race to the heavenly finish line. The last shall be first. Those who become servants to all are those who win the imperishable wreath.

The epitome of living a life carrying your cross is a life of servanthood. In our cultural context, the specific ways we can become a servant to all don’t look the same for us as they did for Paul. But it does mean putting the needs of others before our own reputation, desires, and wants. Not only in the smaller, day-to-day decisions, but in all things. 

It may look like choosing to move somewhere where there is gospel need rather than staying in your hometown for the sake of the many who don’t know Jesus. It may look like not taking a promotion that you desire for the sake of spending more time with friends and family. It may look like not spending a semester abroad for the sake of your roommates who don’t know the Lord.

A life defined by servanthood is not one of ease, just as the training and self-discipline required to win the Boston Marathon are not in any way easy. The reality of the Christian walk being difficult is something most of us recognize, but when we begin to experience the hardships that come alongside becoming a servant to all, doubt quickly creeps in.

You begin to question, “Lord, is this really where you want me?” When our lives are defined by servanthood, they will undoubtedly be difficult. There is nothing easy about giving up your freedoms for the sake of others. In the midst of the difficulty of self-forgetfulness, it is easy to lose sight of the purpose behind it: the imperishable wreath ahead.

Difficulty that comes from a life defined by servanthood is akin to the difficulty of discipline and training required to win a race. Just as an athlete endures through painful training, knowing that it is producing endurance that will lead to their race-day win, we can endure through the difficulty that comes from carrying our cross, knowing that it is producing endurance that will help us to win the imperishable prize ahead.

I hope this is an encouragement to those of you who may be feeling the weight of carrying your cross. I want to close out this blog with Romans 5:3–5, an excerpt from another one of Paul’s letters that speaks into this further.

“Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” (Romans 5:3–5, ESV)