“But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.” (1 Corinthians 9:27, ESV)

Miguel Duran Navie, you’ve probably never heard the name but he is a Spanish swimmer who competed in the 2016 Rio Olympics. Unfortunately, he didn’t medal. Even worse, he was disqualified before the event took place. Just before the gun that signals the race to begin, Navia dove into the water for the preliminary heat in the 400m freestyle. Automatic disqualification. As one news site described it, his Olympic dreams were dashed.

How sad it would be to work your entire life to achieve one goal, only to be disqualified. Life is a marathon with twists and turns, some more subtle than others, that we need traverse. Sometimes we’ll trip and skin our knee but we’re able to rise from that and still finish the race. Unlike Olympic races were the field is meticulously prepared and cleared of all unintended obstacles, our race in life seems to be meticulously prepared to create obstacles. The assailant’s name is “The Prince of THIS World”, A.K.A. Satan.

His goal is to do more than “trip us up” but to disqualify us from the race. He tries to get us to believe false doctrines, to listen to gospels of from “other angels”, and even to believe that we are really gods. Paul pointed to the only thing that can safeguard us from the wiles of the devil. Discipline! Just as an Olympian prepares each and every day for years leading up to one moment, we too must prepare our minds for action, for that moment when Satan decides temps us. We won’t let Satan tempt us by firing the race gun too early because we will have our sights set on our true judge, God.

Let your light shine!

p.s. Navie was later allowed to compete in the 400m freestyle due to a “premature gunshot noise coming from the crowd”, almost as though someone was trying to draw him off-sides…sound familiar?