1 Corinthians 9:25 (KJV) Winning Mastery

1 Corinthians 9:25 (KJV)
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.

Not every man strives for mastery. 

Many if not most people are content to live in mediocrity,

• Watching the masters, 
• Depending upon the masters and 
• Living in subordination to the masters. 

Some, maybe most, are jealous of the masters and would like to be more than they are. 
They either do not know how or else they lack the discipline to do the things necessary to be among the masters. 

This is the cause of much of the complaints of those who call certain pastors who preach standards and separation legalism. 
To be sure there is such a thing as legalism. There are those who impose standards upon others as requirements of salvation or church membership, etc. 

I would suggest, however, that there are fewer of that sort than we suppose. Most pastors accused of legalism are simply urging their congregations to mastery. Salvation is a gift of God given without condition. But Christlikeness is the putting away of the flesh and the putting on of Christ. 

Thus, mastery of Christlikeness requires temperance: 

• Discipline, 
• Standards and
• Separation. 

The godly pastor assumes his flock wishes to be masters of Christlikeness. The one in conflict with him does not understand the necessity of temperance in all things.

To my readers:
First of all, thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. Secondly, I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and more than 4600 earlier Daily Visits with God visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books are available at:
My author spotlight at Lulu.com:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/marvinmckenzie

My author Page for Kindle/Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/author/marvinmckenzie

1 Corinthians 9:25 (KJV) Winning Mastery

photos from pexels.com

Please consider helping our church’s teen department by signing up for cash back shopping at http://www.dubli.com/M04VB. This program has three levels of participation, the first being completely free.