I Beat My Body

1 Corinthians 9:27

No, 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.

The other evening my wife and I were watching TV and the program we happened to come upon was The Biggest Loser.  We watched in amazement.  Some of the folks on the show were losing 30-40% and more of their body weight in a season of the show.  One guy started the show weighing 400 plus pounds and was down an amazing amount of weight already (after being voted off the show they revealed his final weight and he had lost over 180 pounds).  As a person that is overweight I am amazed.  Now I know they have trainers and special chiefs and they work out several hours a day – but – we could all lose weight (if we need to do so) if we stuck to a good eating pattern and exercised more.  If we beat our bodies we could get them into better shape.

The Ravens just finished a wild run through the NFL playoffs.  It was an amazing story of injured players fighting back to contribute to the team – players pushing themselves beyond any preconceived limits – to win the Super Bowl when no one thought they would even get past the Broncos or the Patriots to get to the Super Bowl.  In the locker room – when the players were celebrating – you could see more clearly (with their shirts off) their awesome physical stature.  Many of them are unique specimens of humanity.  They have spent years pushing their bodies to be the best they can be at their sport.