Likewise, a competitor does not receive the crown unless he competes according to the rules.

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

I press on toward the goal to win the prize of God’s heavenly calling in Christ Jesus.

Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.

I have set the LORD always before me. Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or empty pride, but in humility consider others more important than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus:

The righteous man walks with integrity; blessed are his children after him.

Let the fields exult, and all that is in them. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy

Nothing is better for a man than to eat and drink and enjoy his work. I have also seen that this is from the hand of God. For apart from Him, who can eat and who can find enjoyment? To the man who is pleasing in His sight, He gives wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner He assigns the task of gathering and accumulating that which he will hand over to one who pleases God. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind. To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, . . .

Here is what I have seen to be good and fitting: to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in all the labor one does under the sun during the few days of life that God has given him—for this is his lot. Furthermore, God has given riches and wealth to every man, and He has enabled him to enjoy them, to accept his lot, and to rejoice in his labor. This is a gift from God. For a man seldom considers the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with the joy of his heart.

He gives power to the faint and increases the strength of the weak.

But if we hope for what we do not yet see, we wait for it patiently. In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know how we ought to pray, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans too deep for words. And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose. For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers. . . .

Reject a divisive man after a first and second admonition,

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way as to take the prize.