The Victor's Crown is the will of God for each and every human being on the planet. However, the will of God will not mandate the will of man. In other words, each of us chooses what we will, or will not, do. Even after we have accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior, we determine in our soul, the seat of our will, to obey the rules of the game or to set them aside.
Unfortunately, many of our brothers and sisters of faith want all the benefits of the Kingdom but are unwilling to discipline themselves to "strive for the mastery by being temperate in all things".
Temperance means restraint, abstaining from excess, moderation, in other words, discipline.
Those who would win the Crown of Righteousness [2 Timothy 4:8], the Crown of Glory [1 Peter 5:2], and/or the Crown of Life [James 1:12] must be disciples (disciplined ones).
It is true that we can not run, let alone finish, the race and say with Paul, "I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" [Philippians 3:14 (KJV)] without the anointing of the Spirit of Grace. Neither will we join him in saying, I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: [2 Tim. 4:7 (KJV)] with out the daily exercise of faith in our lives.
May we discipline our thoughts by renewing our minds in the Word of God's love, moderate our speech by making that Word the thing most precious in our hearts (out of the heart, the mouth speaks), and train our bodies to abstain from excess of any kind. Let us, as a people, finish our course, having kept the faith, and let us win the Victors Crown.
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