A Life Well Lived: Let's Run In Such A Way That We Get The Prize At The End

" The Man with the Golden Helmet " is one of the most famous and loved paintings by Rembrandt. From a very young age, I have admired this masterpiece of the extraordinary Dutch painter. This painting shows us an old soldier, with a noble and melancholic face, dressed in his military uniform, with a beautiful golden helmet. In the painting, the old military man looks steadily at an indefinite point, pensive, with a melancholic expression in his eyes. Despite the years, the face still reflects the firmness and manliness of youth; perhaps also the soft sadness that comes from having seen and lived too much. The old soldier's jaw and mouth, the tilt of his head, project vigor and courage. Old age does not seem to have reduced the strength and virility of youth at all.

It is evident that this man has lived well. It has retained its strength. He has not wasted his manhood or vitality on destructive pleasures or dishonest acts. Evidently, the soldiers he led in the war were blessed to be covered by the leadership of an exceptional man, who always cared for their well-being, and who never put his life at risk unnecessarily. For this man, the prize of a life well lived turns out to be, precisely, an old age full of vitality and inner peace.

The apostle Paul was that kind of leader, always on guard against himself, always on the alert against any subtle snares that could cause him to stumble and lose his crown. For him, the Christian life is a long career. How we finish it matters more than how we start it. His firm purpose was to finish the race with honor, to run it legitimately. In I Corinthians 9:24 he asks, "Don't you know that those who run in the stadium all run, but only one gets the prize?" The conclusion, for him, is inescapable: "Run in such a way that you get it."

The glory of a life well lived, a well-finished ministry, are not guaranteed to us. There is a way of "running" if we want this to become a reality for us. You have to pay the price! You have to pray a lot, bleed a lot, let yourself be broken and pruned by the Lord. You have to ask a lot for forgiveness, acknowledge many faults, humiliate yourself too much. Many fasts and sleepless nights are required, many shipwrecks of self and pride, many struggles with the angel in the middle of the night. It involves a life of abstinence and refused pleasures. Pablo puts it this way:

25 Everyone who struggles refrains from everything; they, indeed, to receive a corruptible crown, but we, an incorruptible.

26 So I run like this, not at random; In this way I fight, not like someone who hits the air,

27 but I strike my body, and I put it in bondage, lest, having been a herald for others, I myself come to be eliminated.

The specter of ultimate failure at the end of his career kept Pablo sober. Day after day, he returned to embrace the disciplines of the athletic runner. In his case, those disciplines involved prayer, searching the Scriptures, fasting, continual self-examination, active rejection of the world, renouncing to seek personal glory or approval from men, active recognition of their own. personal failings, and continued dependence on the Lord.

His farewell address at Miletus to the elders of the church at Ephesus, recorded in Acts 20: 17-35, shows that Paul succeeded in reaching his goal. His words to his fellow soldiers project the dignity, grace and authority of the soldier who retires with honor, who has accomplished his mission, and who never turned his back on the enemy. In another beautiful and moving passage (II Tim 4: 5-8), he encourages Timothy, his spiritual son, to run his own ministerial career with legitimacy and to finish it with honor:

5 But you, be sober in everything, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

6 Because I am ready to be sacrificed, and the time of my departure is near.

7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

8 Moreover, the crown of righteousness is in store for me, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who love his coming.

Christian life and service are mined with spiritual traps. The glorious heights of the beginning may give way to the valleys and abysses of mediocrity later on. If we don't continually take care and examine ourselves, we can easily get lost and lose our way. A glorious and worthy end is only reached through multiple moral decisions made each day, and a continually renewed vow of fidelity in the face of the continual temptation to drop our arms and give in to the deceptive offers of the tempter of our souls.

Some principles that can help us live a victorious life, always ascending: Keep short accounts with God, acknowledging and confessing our sins as soon as possible.

Honesty and transparency with God and our fellow men. Preventive humility, and continuous recognition that only by God's grace can we draw near to him and serve him. Mercy towards others, which assures us of God's grace and forgiveness when we offend him. Dependence on the power of God to live holy lives, instead of depending on our own strength or justice. Continuous search for fresh anointing, instead of relying on the sublime experiences of the past for the struggles of today. Principles like these will keep us spiritually vigorous, and carry us from victory to victory in our Christian walk.