Where the Spiritual Contest Begins

Would you like to hear a true athlete of Christ competing according to the rules and laws of the contest? “I,” he said, “run in such a way, not aimlessly. I fight in such a way, not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, so that after preaching to others I myself should not be disqualified.” You see how he made the chief part of the struggle depend on himself, that is, on his flesh, as on a most secure foundation, and placed the outcome of the battle simply in disciplining the flesh and bringing his body into subjection. [a]

“I run in such a way, not aimlessly.” He does not run aimlessly, because he looks to the heavenly Jerusalem and has a mark set before him, toward which his heart is swiftly directed without swerving. He does not run aimlessly, because, “forgetting what lies behind, he reaches out to what lies ahead, pressing on toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” He always directs his mind’s gaze there, and, hurrying toward it with all the speed of his heart, he declares with confidence, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.” And because he knows that he has run tirelessly, with ready devotion of heart, “after the fragrance of the ointment” of Christ, and has won the battle of the spiritual combat by disciplining the flesh, he boldly concludes, “From now on there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day.”

And to open up to us as well the hope of a like reward, if we want to imitate him in the struggle of his race, he added, “But not to me only, but also to all who love his coming.” By this he declares that we will share his crown on the day of judgment if we love the coming of Christ — not only the coming that will be plain to everyone even against their will, but also the one that takes place daily in holy souls — and if we win the victory in the fight by disciplining the body. It is of this coming that the Lord speaks in the Gospel. “I,” he says, “and my Father will come to him and make our home with him.” And again: “Look, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.”