Read 1 Corinthians 9:24-27

“And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air.” (1 Corinthians 9:25–26)

Uncertainty is one of the greatest enemies of the Christian life. It creates a slew of problems and difficulties, including doubt, inaction, passivity, anxiety, laziness, and most of all, fear. And if undealt with in the heart of the believer it will only wane worse and worse as time goes on.

This is why the Scriptures speak so frequently of the assurances we have as the people of God in our Mighty God. Do we really trust the Lord and His Word with the certainty?

But we must! There should be no choice for us if we truly call ourselves the redeemed of Christ! We must trust the character of God and the doctrines of His Word. A Christian who runs the race of faith with certainty in this way is a mighty weapon in the hands of God! But a Christian bound by the shackles of uncertainty becomes heavy laden with condemnation, worry and idleness. The uncertain Christian is the kind that Satan has no need to quarrel with. That Christian is too weighed down by their own indecision and paralysis to be a threat to hell’s army, so the devil will let them be.

The Apostle James pulls no punches when he warns us of being uncertain in our trust of God —

“…he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” (James 1:6–8)

Are you someone whom this apostle would call double-minded and unstable? If so, all you must do is fix your eyes back on Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith (see Hebrews 12:1-2). Can you run the race of faith with certainty like Paul? You can! Can you fight the good fight of faith with assurance like Paul? You can! You simply must remember Who your faith is in, which is Jesus, and what your faith is running after, which is an imperishable crown.

“And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown.”

When we fail to place our eyes on the eternal, we are left to gaze on this fading and hopeless world and like Peter, who walked on water and began to sink, we too will sink into despair and uncertainty. Jesus caught Peter, but pierced his soul with the gentle rebuke of, “Oh ye of little faith. Why did you doubt?”

This is the question for all Christians who walk in uncertainty. Why do you doubt? Why are you of little faith in such a magnificent God?

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” (2 Timothy 1:7)

Focus your gaze upon the Lord Jesus and the world that is to come and it will give you wings to soar through this life, and an assurance that can never be broken. Put an end to your worrying and trust Him! Stand up on your feet and run with certainty in the God of your salvation. Put some pep in your step, and give the devil some uncertainty for a change. And watch how God will completely transform your life when you simply trust in Him.

As the old hymn reminds us:

*Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face;
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim;
In the light of His glorious face.*