Have you ever considered the irony of 1 Corinthians 9:24? “Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win!” (New Living Translation)

Doesn’t it seem strange that in this Christian race, we are told that only 1 will win?!  Oftentimes, I have laughed when reading this passage.  My mind would instantly go to a competition with everyone else.  After all, if only one of us will win this race, then there are going to be an awful lot of Christians who are disappointed at the end of this whole thing!

Obviously, this cannot be the case.  We were not given this great Message to try and out-do our brothers and sisters for a single Grand Prize that only 1 person will receive.  In order to understand 1 Corinthians 9:24, you must understand your role in redemption…and your role in redemption is very small.

When the relationship with God was broken in Eden, man could no longer be in the presence of the very One who created him. Fellowship with the Almighty came to an abrupt end. With that severance came futility, for how could a creature so completely covered in unrighteousness restore a relationship with a righteous God?  The answer is without question: We can’t.

In order to be connected to God again, it took the actions of God Himself, not anything we could do.  The apostle Paul put it this way – He said if we could take everything good that we have ever done or could ever do and present it on a silver platter to God, the Lord would regard it as nothing more than dirty rags. Our efforts are useless to restore ourselves.

We know from Galatians 3:27 that, “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”  This is the answer to 1 Corinthians 9:24.  When we are baptized, it is Christ who God now sees.  It is no longer you that is presented before the judgement of God, but it is Christ.  If you have been baptized into Christ, then you have PUT ON Christ.

Everyone in this world is running for the grand prize.  Many do not even know what they are trying to win, but nobody wants to lose.  Not one person wakes up in the morning desiring death and despair, pain and suffering, but all people want to end up in Heaven one day, even if they do not know what that Heaven is. But for those of us who have put on Christ, it is not us who are running, it is Him.  He has already run this race for us, and He has obtained the prize…you and I!  Only one will win, and it sure won’t be you and I.  If you want to end up winning at the culmination of this life, you need to put on Christ and let Him run for you.

“12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. 13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” — Philippians 3:12-14 (KJV)

I love office supplies. Blank sheets of copy paper, blank journals and Moleskine notebooks, pens full of ink…the world is waiting to be conquered with these tools. When I sit down and first turn back the cover of that new notebook, my nerdy little heart leaps just a little at all the possibilities. I could write the next great American novel, pen a worship song that captures everything I can never seem to say—blank paper makes me feel that I can do anything. Old notebooks, full of the blood of lesser pens spilled on their pages, are tossed into the trash never to be remembered again as I put pen to paper on a fresh, new page.

In the scripture above from Philippians, I get the sense that Paul would like office supplies, too.

Paul gives us this ONE thing he does. This secret of his success in life. How he manages to keep on and keep on and keep on: He forgets.

There are some who would have us believe that people can never change. Once a bad apple, always a bad apple. “He’s just like his dad. She’s always been like that. Well what do you expect after she…” Teachers. Psychologists. Media. The message always seems to be that you can’t leave behind who you were. You’re predisposed to certain behaviors, and that’s it.

Paul knew better. In 2 Corinthians 5:17 he wrote, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

The Bible is full of examples of people who met Jesus and left things behind. The woman at the well, when face to face with Messiah, with all her sins laid bare, dropped her bucket and ran to tell someone. The blind man who cried out all the more “JESUS! Thou son of David…HAVE MERCY ON ME!” Healed by the miraculous touch of Jesus, he dropped his old filthy cloak that identified him as a beggar. The apostles, before they were such, dropped what they were doing, in Peter’s case literally walking away from the nets of his fishing vessel, to follow Jesus.

So what do you need to leave behind? Is it a mistake you’ve made in the past? The baggage of who you used to be? Let Paul encourage you today — you can leave it behind. Whatever it is, you can have forgiveness today. You can place it under the blood of Jesus, never to be remembered and never to be charged against you again. And when you do? Jesus will be there with a brand new, blank notebook in hand. Get ready to write a new chapter.

“Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. 29 And Paul said , I would to God, that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day, were both almost , and altogether such as I am , except these bonds. ” — Acts 26:28-29

My mother used to tell me often, “Son, almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.”

The pages of history are littered with accounts of what might have been. Accounts of “almost” that nearly changed the world. Few people have ever heard the name Lyman Cutlar, but he, a single bullet, and a pig nearly changed the outcome of the Civil War.

Cutlar was a settler who, in 1859, lived on San Juan Island in Washington State. Due to ill-defined borders, both the U.S. and the British claimed ownership of the island.

What’s known as “The Pig War” began when Cutlar shot and killed a trespassing pig belonging to an Englishman. Cutlar said, “It was eating my potatoes,” and he had already warned the pig’s owner to keep it out of his field. The Englishman said, “It is up to YOU to keep your potatoes out of my pig.” So Cutlar did what any reasonable person with pig-eaten potatoes would do — he shot it in the head.

Before long, things escalated. The British threatened to arrest Cutlar, so the U.S. called for protection — the 9th Infantry. The British responded by dispatching three warships to the area. The U.S. sent in more ground forces, and the British sent in more ships.

By the time the escalation reached its peak that August, the U.S. had 461 troups in the area, and the British had 2,140 troups and 5 warships. The real issue was who owned the island.

For the next 12 years the U.S. and the British were in a standoff that could have changed our country forever. The British were sympathetic to the Confederacy, and could have used this opportunity to give them military backing, thus changing the outcome of the Civil War. Imagine the world we would live in. It was almost different because of a hungry pig in a potato patch.

Almost.

Paul had been turning the world upside down with the Gospel. Because of this he was arrested, tried, appealed to the governor, faced an assassination attempt from 40 men, and finally transferred to the king for judgment. When Paul reaches the king he testifies about his encounter with Jesus and gives a powerful and stirring defense of his beliefs.

Agrippa, listening to Paul’s passionate presentation says, “Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.”

Too often we hear what we know is truth, we’re presented with the facts in such a clear way that our heart knows EXACTLY what we must do, and so…we don’t do it.

Paul said, “I wish that you weren’t almost, but altogether. You and everyone here today, just like me, except for these chains.” Paul lived to preach on, but he lost what he was really after that day – the battle for the mind of the King.

Don’t be almost. Be hot. Be cold. But don’t be lukewarm. You may have to trade Agrippa’s crown for Paul’s chains, but I can promise you — it’s worth it to be able to look back over your life and not have to say “almost.”