Don't be Disqualified

Paul's goal is to keep his life under control (his body) so that he does not end up disqualified in the process of following Christ—a process that he compares to a race. "I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified," writes Paul (1 Cor 9.27). (In a misstep the KJV translates it: "should be a castaway," implying the plight of a shipwrecked sailor. The Greek word means to test and find unfit).

The salient point is that we ought to follow Paul's example here. We are no less obligated to keep our own bodies under control lest we be disqualified, lest we be tested and found unfit.