Do we realize that our Christian life is a race, even an endurance race, that we must run until we see the Lord if we are to win the prize? The apostle Paul certainly did.

That’s because, in addition to the free gift of salvation, there is also the question of whether or not we will reign with the Christ in His 1,000 year kingdom on the earth. That reigning is absolutely not a free gift given to us by the Lord, but a prize we must win. (See the Note, “Do Not Be Led Astray; God Is Not Mocked.”)

And the apostle Paul spent his entire Christian life striving to win this prize. He told the believers in Corinth he was running this race to gain an “incorruptible crown” (1 Cor. 9:24-27). Later, he told the saints in Philippi he was still running, even when he was in prison, to gain this prize (Philippians 3:13-14).

Finally, just before his martyrdom—but not before then—he boldly declared to Timothy, his spiritual child,

I have fought the good fight; I have finished the course; I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, with which the Lord, the Righteous Judge, shall recompense me in that day—and not only me, but also all those who have loved His glorious appearing.
— 2 Timothy 4:7-8

This shows us that, to reign with Christ during the 1,000 years was not assured to Paul at the time he was saved; rather, it was a reward, a prize, he gained through his faithful following and serving of Christ throughout His entire Christian life.

That is why he only made this declaration at the very end of his life. It is why in these verses he speaks of the Lord, not as “a merciful forgiver,” but as “the Righteous Judge.” And it is why he speaks here of “the crown of righteousness” being, not a “free gift,” such as eternal life is (Rom. 6:23), but rather, a “recompense” the Lord was to give Him for how he had run the race. (“Recompense” in these verses is the same Greek word, apodidōmi, Strong’s #591, that is used a few verses later, in 4:14, where Paul writes that the Lord was also going to “recompense” Alexander the coppersmith “according to his works” for the evil he had done to Paul.)

And this need to win the prize by running the race is also why Paul, as the writer of Hebrews, exhorts us, his fellow believers, to “Therefore” run this race as well, just as so many faithful servants of God have run it before us:

Therefore, let us also, having so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily besets us and run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking away unto Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
— Hebrews 12:1-2

And it is also why, in this series of Notes, I have been burdened to share this matter with my brothers and sisters in Christ today. I would urge you, Don’t listen to or be deceived by the “empty words” (Eph. 5:6) of those who falsely claim there can never be any problem between us and the Lord once we are saved! May we, instead, be those who do faithfully “run with endurance the race that is set before us,” so that we may win the prize of reigning with Christ in the age to come, His 1,000 year kingdom upon this present earth (Rev. 20:4-6):

For we must all be
manifested before
the judgment seat of Christ,
that each one may receive
the things done through
the body, according to
what he has practiced,
whether good or evil.
— 2 Corinthians 5:10 —

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— 15 August 2026 —