The Prize

Revelation 20:11-15

Often in this life I’ve been driven to win the prize, as a child it may have been a race with Jimmy, Gary, or Richard, and as I got older it may have been to catch more fish than my brother Freddie.  It may have been to win the heart of my wife, or to win a trip at work.  I was driven to be the best, to get my name on some list, so that people who would not remember my name the next day would give me recognition. 

My dear friend Johnny Anderson worked very hard to become “Mr. Texas” and this is what he told me; “The prize consumed me, I ate, slept, and drove my body to become “Mr. Texas” and after winning that title, I felt empty.”  It was not a week later, it was the very night he got the reward, and Johnny went back to work in his gym, looking for another title, anything to make him feel alive.   Johnny was told by someone to look to Jesus, that all that he hoped for and wanted could be found only in Jesus Christ, and Johnny Anderson found life and he has not been empty since, in fact he was one of five men who showed me where to find life eternal.

The apostle Paul tells about pressing on toward the goal in Philippians 3:14, “I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”  Paul, like my friend Johnny and many others have entered into Christ, not by some act on their part, but by faith and the grace of God.  This is what the apostle Paul said in Ephesians 2:8,9, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice