Devotion: Is Your Flag Still Up?

Is Your Flag Still Up?

1 Corinthians 9:26-27 I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.

I took the kids to the demolition derby. It was a real hoot. Each car had a yellow flag attached to it where all could see. If the driver failed to hit another car in a specified amount of time they were out of the game and the announcer would tell them to pull in their flag, signifying that they were disqualified and no longer in the competition. Cars are tearing around the ring in all different directions, some frontward, others backwards all purposefully aiming to hit another, hopefully hard enough to put them out of the competition. No one wants to hear the announcer say to them, "Pull in your flag!" If that happens, they sit there the rest of the heat as a castaway.

The Apostle Paul says in these verses that he disciplines himself so that he will not become disqualified (a castaway) and be of no use after preaching the Gospel to others. I don't believe he is saying that he is afraid of losing his salvation. He doesn't want to be told to "pull in his flag" because his life did not honor God and he became a stumbling block to others.


We should seek to follow Paul's example and be disciplined in our lives so that we are not stumbling blocks either to other Christians or those who God might be working to soften their hearts toward Him. We want to hear God's, "Well done thou good and faithful servant". We don't want to have our flag pulled in and set aside as a castaway.


So how are you doing? Are there areas of your life that need work? Is your flag still up?