Some would take this to mean that I, as an individual, must run with the goal of winning the prize, forsaking everything around me, and focusing only on me getting myself to the finish line first. And, in the worldly games Paul was using as an illustration, that is indeed the proper attitude to have. However, any believer who, in their desire to "be sold out to the Lord," or any other such pet phrase, adopts this attitude will be missing the entire point of what Paul was saying.
In our English bibles, we would tend to think Paul had in mind individual accomplishment when he said to run "that you may win." However, a quick peek behind the word "you" reveals that he had in mind, not an individual "you," but a corporate one. The word is plural, not singular. Paul was speaking to a body of believers, all of whom, together, he encouraged to run the race that they all would win.
What a world of difference that makes in how this is expressed in our lives, isn't it. For our Father has a heart, not for individuals who can boast that they are "in the Word" a lot, or "a prayer warrior" who spends many hours a week in prayer, or one who really knows how to "share the gospel" with everyone they meet. These things are well and good, but the focus is on the individual. With regard to prayer, they may be spending time in prayer for others, but the very fact that somehow you know how much time they spend, if they are making sure somehow everyone knows, makes it an individual expression, and thus misleading. Even in evangelizing, it often becomes a statistical game where one racks up as many souls on his or her wall as trophies to show everyone how spiritual they are.
This does not mean that one should not engage in these things, but I can assure you that if any of these things are of the Lord, they will be expressed in a different way, with the focus being on something far different than on us as individuals.
Where is the Father's heart then? It is in the building up of his dwelling place, the body of us believers he dwells in. What this means, and how this applies to the scripture above, is that in running the race we are not focused on our own "personal relationship with the Lord," as much as we are focused on our brothers and sisters God has placed us around, spurring them on, encouraging them in the race, helping each other so that we all see ourselves crossing that line as one corporate winner.
Father's heart is on the assembly of Christ, as a whole, and his interaction with us individually and with the world is only in relation to that same goal, of his invisible attributes of glory, wisdom, love, etc, being visibly expressed through us who make up the body of Christ.
Looking at the surrounding verses of the one above will help us see that this very thing was on Paul's mind and heart as well. Let's consider that now:
1Co 9:19-23 For though I was free from all, I brought myself under bondage to all, that I might gain the more. To the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain those who are under the law; to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law. To the weak I became as weak, that I might gain the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I may by all means save some. Now I do this for the sake of the Good News, that I may be a joint partaker of it.
1Co 9:27 but I beat my body and bring it into submission, lest by any means, after I have preached to others, I myself should be rejected.
With regard to how he dealt with unbelievers, I think it is easy to see that in seeking them, his focus was not on himself, for he was willing to enter into the world of other people, for their salvation. How much easier it could have been for him to demand that everyone look at him and join with him as he pursued this marvelous relationship with the Lord. In other words, he didn't stand in the safety of a "church building" preaching a message to wow the people into a decision he could count toward his quota, only to leave them and onto the next place. But no, instead he joined with them, became part of who they were, as he was able to do, for his focus was not on making himself a raised standard for others to try to reach, but he mixed among them so that, as he put it, "may be a joint partaker." He saw these unbelievers, not as underneath him, to be treated as such, but as potential joint partakers. He knew the importance of jointly partaking of all that the Good News brings, for that is God's heart, always the whole, and the individual only toward the greater goal of the whole, meaning the whole body of Christ, and all gathered in him.
But surely the last statement, about how he chose to treat himself, and the concern that he might be rejected, that speaks of his individuality doesn't it? Well, let's see....
To be continued...