THERE IS A PRICE TO PAY TO OBTAIN THE PRIZE 3

We must endure hardships, disciplines and chastisements as a good soldier and athlete so that our aim would be achieved. The beautiful thing is that it is just for a while.

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory
While we look not at the things which are seen, but the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal
              2 Corinthians 4:17-18 (MSG)

Another wonderful thing is that we are not alone in this journey, we have also with us a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us, cheering us on so that we won't be discouraged, telling us we can make it, but there is a very important instruction that we shouldn't leave out and that is Laying down of weight and sins that easily besets us.
Weights slows down
An athlete in a race runs as light as possible, he wants to make sure there is nothing hindering him from running with all his/ her might even the clothing.
Let us imagine an athlete who wants to run a marathon with a backpack full of heavy materials, the race in itself may not make him as tired as the burden that comes with the backpack he is carrying.
If the coach is calling our attention to any distraction, weight or sin that is slowing us down in our race, what he expects if for us to lay it down even if it is seemingly appealing or luxurious. If it is a sin, he expects repentance and forsaking. He knows better.
We need a  patience, perseverance and endurance to finish the race, we are not to look back.
We need to keep looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, our greatest model, we must not allow our gaze to leave him, we must learn from his own sojourn here on earth. His experiences were not palatable.

Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered, and being made perfect he became the author of eternal salvation unto them that obey him (Hebrews 5:8-9)

He didn't give up, he endured the cross, he despised the shame and eventually he was able to say IT IS FINISHED. He finished strong and he is waiting for us at the other side.

So let's keep focused on that goal, those of us who want everything God has for us. If any of you have something else in mind, something less than total commitment, God will clear your blurred vision - you'll see it yet!Now that we're on the right track, let's stay on it. Stick with me dear friends. Keep track of those you see running the same course, headed for the same goal. There are many out there taking other paths, choosing other goals, and trying to get you to go along with them many times; sadly,i'm having to do it again. All they want is easy street. They hate Christ's Cross. But easy street is a dead -end street.
                   Philippians 3:15-18(MSG)

THERE IS A PRICE TO PAY TO OBTAIN THE PRIZE 1

Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the the affairs of this life, that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully. The husbandman that laboureth must be first partakers of the fruits
                         2 Timothy 2:3-6 (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 any 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.
                        1 Corinthians 9: 24-27(KJV)
Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let is lay aside every weight and the sin that doth easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the  author and the finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradictions of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood striving against sin.
                       Hebrews 12:1-4(KJV)
As children of God we must realize that we are in a race and there is a goal, a crown, a glory that awaits us and we await. The realization that there is an expectation of God concerning our lives.
God had an expectation concerning Jesus Christ when he came to the world and that was to save the world from sin, though the  process to achieve that was not palatable, but Jesus Christ stuck to it, despite the fact that he had to lay down his glory, his fame and his very life and he felt rejection from his father who had called him for the assignment when he was on the cross that he had to cry out My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? (Matthew 27:46b). He felt apart from His father and that for an  offence he didn't commit.
There is a price to pay to obtain the prize, without the payment of price there is no prize.
We desire to end our journey here on earth in glory with the father, we desire the crown of glory and the mansion that the father has prepared for us, we desire to hear  thou good and faithful servant enter thou into the joy of thy lord; all these come with a price.
Apostle Paul by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost compared us to a soldier (2 Timothy 2:4) who has been enlisted to please the one who has called him, to be enlisted in the military is not for trivial reasons, a soldier must be ready to lay down his life if that is what is required of him by his commander ; he must be ready to endure hardships, trainings, scolding and punishments so that he can stand when the time comes for him to go to war. He doesn't think or behave like a civilian. He has been specially trained.
We must realize that the same applies to us, we have been enlisted in God's army and our primary aim is to please the one who has called from darkness into his kingdom, we should no longer think and behave like unbelievers. we must not entangle ourselves with sins anymore.
For a man in the worldly military he is looking forward to a National honour and that is only a corruptible prize that could only give momentary joy or fame and yet he is ready to lay down his life for that but we are striving for something incorruptible, something that cannot be destroyed, something eternal that nothing in this world can be traded for. Money, fame, power cannot buy it, it is invaluable. The prize is sure and this means we must do much more than what a worldly soldier will do. We must be temperate in all things.
                                ...to be continued