1 Corinthians 9:24–10:13

²⁴In a race all the runners run. But only one gets the prize. You know that, don’t you? So run in a way that will get you the prize. ²⁵All who take part in the games train hard. They do it to get a crown that will not last. But we do it to get a crown that will last forever.

²⁶So I do not run like someone who doesn’t run toward the finish line. I do not fight like a boxer who hits nothing but air. ²⁷No, I train my body and bring it under control. Then after I have preached to others, I myself will not break the rules and fail to win the prize.

Warnings From Israel’s History

10Brothers and sisters, here is what I want you to know about our people who lived long ago. They were all led by the cloud. They all walked through the Red Sea. ²They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. ³They all ate the same supernatural food. ⁴They all drank the same supernatural water. They drank from the supernatural rock that went with them. That rock was Christ.

⁵But God was not pleased with most of them. Their bodies were scattered all over the desert.

⁶Now those things happened as examples for us. They are supposed to keep us from longing for evil things, as the people of Israel did.

⁷So don’t worship statues of gods, as some of them did. It is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink. Then they got up to dance wildly in front of their god.” ⁸We should not commit sexual sins, as some of them did. In one day 23,000 of them died. ⁹We should not put the Lord to the test, as some of them did. They were killed by snakes. ¹⁰Don’t tell your leaders how unhappy you are with them. That’s what some of the people of Israel did. And they were killed by the destroying angel.

¹¹Those things happened to them as examples for us. They were written down to warn us who are living at the time when God’s work is being completed. ¹²So be careful. When you think you are standing firm, you might fall.

¹³You are tempted in the same way all other human beings are. God is faithful. He will not let you be tempted any more than you can take. But when you are tempted, God will give you a way out so that you can stand up under it.