The word adversary means enemy. We all know that an enemy is someone who is against us. It is someone who does not want what is best for us. We know that the devil is our adversary as taught in I Peter 5:8: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” However, he is not our greatest adversary. He can only control us unless we allow him to. Our greatest adversary is ourselves.
If we are Christians, we have the power dwelling within us to do what is right. Yet, so many times, we choose to sin. Paul speaks about this in Romans 7:18- 19: “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.” The Holy Spirit dwells within the believer to help us do what is right, but we still have our sinful nature that desires things opposite of the Spirit.
To defeat this adversary of self, we must confront it daily. Paul said in I Corinthians 15:31, “I die daily.” This was not a physical death but a death of dying to sin and the world. He refused to allow the things of this world to dictate what was right or wrong for him.
In I Corinthians 9:24, he allows us to see the attitude of one who fights the flesh. He is determined to win. He was running this race of a Christian life to obtain the prize of eternal life with Jesus. He was focused. He did not look back but kept his eyes on the prize. It would have been easy to give in to the flesh, but that would have changed the race’s outcome.
I Corinthians 9:24 “Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.”
He was controlled by the Spirit that brought him the fruit of temperance. This, in our terms, is self-control. Self-discipline is a must if Paul or we are to finish our course and overcome the adversary of leaning to our own desires for comfort. Self-control is in short supply in our society. We tend to give in and make excuses for our behavior rather than obey the Lord and bring our bodies under subjection. Not doing this not only keeps us from being our best for the Master, but it is a poor testimony to others of the power that the Holy Spirit makes available to us.
We are running for a purpose. To obtain an incorruptible crown. A crown will be given to those who have lived and succeeded in pleasing the Master while here on earth. It is a crown not for us to boast in but one that we will be able to give back to Jesus on that day.
I Corinthians 9:25 “And every man that strives for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.”
I am to keep running and make sure that I stay on course. I have heard of cross-country racers who somehow missed a trail marker and got off course. They only realized this after they were so far off that they could not win the race. This is how many Christians are today. They are, of course, because they are controlled by the flesh and not the Spirit. They don’t even know they are off. Their desire is comfort. It is easier to make an excuse than to deal with our lack of self-discipline.
If we are to defeat this adversary of self, we must be committed to pleasing God, not ourselves. At first, it will seem like an unachievable goal. The race will look hard and never-ending, but we must keep our eyes on the prize. Not just eternal life in Heaven but the prize of pleasing the one who loves us more than anyone else ever could. The one who died for us when we were His enemies. When you love someone more than you love yourself, you will do almost anything to make them happy. When they hurt you hurt, when they struggle you lend all the help you can. Jesus has done that for us. He endured and succeeded in overcoming every temptation of the flesh. He proved to us that we can, too, if we seek Him and obey.
I 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.
We all have areas of our lives that must be yielded more to Christ. Self-discipline is an ongoing process, but if we do not keep fighting the flesh and determine we will succeed, we will fail. What areas of self-control are lacking in your own life? Do you have habits that are detrimental to your health that you have accepted as “just the way it is?” Are you allowing those habits to pull you off course? Is your lifestyle silently telling others that it is okay to live a sloppy, undisciplined life? Will you stand before Jesus one day with nothing to give back because you lack self-discipline? You may have yielded to the flesh so long that you are off course and don’t even realize it. It is time for a check-up in your life. Be honest with yourself and fight your greatest adversary, self.
