1 Corinthians 9:24-27 Temperate In All Things

1 Corinthians 9:24-27 (KJV)  Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. 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. 

The Apostle Paul practice self-evaluation and self-mortification, seeking to bringing the body under subjection by the grace of God so that it will not be a hindrance but a sanctified vessel for the Master’s use.

Romans 8:13 (KJV)  For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. 

1 Peter 2:11 (KJV)  Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; 

The reward is tremendous from the Lord but it cannot be fully comprehended at the time he was engaged in the race of life for the glory of God. Being a castaway is to be rejected by the Lord even though he has served the Lord in his lifetime. He prayed this is not so.

2 Corinthians 13:5-6 (KJV)  Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates? But I trust that ye shall know that we are not reprobates. 

Amen.