A Little Bite of Bread “We Need a Coach”

1 Corinthians 9: 22To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. 23I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings. 24Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. 27No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.


As I think about this passage I think about a person running a race in a track meet. To me, what he is saying is that he becomes to the people what they are in order to help them, to be their coach as they learn to live the life of faith and trust in Jesus. For me, this was a wow moment! As I think about the many people that God has put in my path and how they have coached me in my growth and maturity in Christ.


The reality is, if I decide to run in a marathon or I decide to join a soccer league, or football team or any other sport, In order to learn to play the game and learn the rules and learn to recognize the things that will cause me to trip, fall and get hurt, I need a coach. The coach will tell me, you can not run with your toes pointing in, you will fall. You can not run without keeping your eyes straight ahead, there may be something on the ground that would catch your feet and cause you to fall. The coach will encourage me in times when I get tired and start thinking, I can’t do this. I will never learn! The coach will push me when I think I have trained enough and I am going to be okay to lay off, my coach will say no, come on push a little harder, there is more in you than what you are giving.


The truth is, our spiritual walk with the Lord is the same way. The devil has many devises set in place to trip us up. When I first came to Jesus, I had no idea how to live a life of victory of him. The longer I am saved and the more I read the scripture the more I find out, I still know nothing and I need help. If I do not allow the coaches that God has put into my life speak the truth and tell me the things I need to know in order to help me learn how to run my race, I will spend all of my time, falling, getting up off of the ground and starting over. That is not what God has in mind for my life.


Just as in a sport there are different coaches for different purposes, so are there different coaches for different purposes in my spiritual life. The head coach, the Holy Spirit is my main authority in all things. I do not always get to talk to him because I am so wrapped up in me and my own stuff that I forget that he is there to help me and I forget that He already knows the best path to take. When I first got saved, I did not even know how to recognize him and the work he was doing in my life. I needed a coach to help me to learn to listen and learn to recognize when He was working and moving in my situations. God had to use the pastors and teachers and other leaders to speak truths, to tell me this is not the way, that is the world’s way and it is a trap set for you. I have to not only listen to them, but I have to decide that I want to take the advice they give and use to help me grow and learn and get past the obstacles that get in my way. I have to choose not to get mad when they say things that I may not like to hear. In most cases, when I struggle, the biggest problem is me. To have somebody come right and say, Linda, your looking at you again is not always easy for them or for me but if I want to grow, and want to learn how to win, I have to step back and say thank you for loving enough to tell me to truth about me so that I can learn a better way.


Life and winning are not easy. There is no room for lazy when playing a sport. Everybody has to play together for one goal, one purpose and that is to win the game. I can not run my race wanting to be the superstar in the show and I can not run my race expecting to win if I do not listen and apply what my coaches are telling me. I can not run my race alone because there are many devises already in place to trip me up and if I do not have coaches to help me recognize the traps and help pick me up when I fall, I will be stuck in the middle of a trap with no one to help me get out.


I love Gods word. I love how He has spoken his divine words in such a way that we can see how to apply it to our lives. For me, learning that I need a coach was a very powerful lesson. It is a totally different approach to life for me. I have always been one who thought I did not need anybody and I really did not want anybody in my life. In my mind, people who want to get involved in my life were only out to use me for a time the leave me broken and angry in the end. Why would I want to allow one more person in my life like that? Learning that there are people in this world that do not want to hurt but to help and that their motive, their goal really had nothing to do with me but everything to do with their love for Jesus was one of the major breakthrough points in my life.
It is my prayer tonight, that we all have our head coach, the Holy Spirit and that we have learned to recognize His voice and obey his direction in our lives. I pray that our hearts are open to listen and learn from our Pastor and our Group leaders and others God has put in our lives to help us as we grow and develop in our wonderful Lord Jesus. I pray that God will give us ears willing to hear the truth and hearts willing to apply what we hear and without taking offence to what has been said. I pray that as we learn the truth about ourselves compared to the truth in Gods word, we will be willing to apply that learning and make the corrections and adjustments necessary to win our race.


Linda