Dear Brethren and Friends, It was inspiring to see the young athletes in the recent Olympic Games “give their all.” Those young people from all over the world spent years working, training, disciplining themselves and driving themselves toward a GOAL. They usually put that goal above everything else.
Yet all too often, we, as Christians, fail to even begin to have the tremendous zeal and dedication toward our supreme goal—experiencing eternal life in the Kingdom of God, becoming full sons of God with glorified bodies and participating in a joyous, zestful life of accomplishment throughout the entire universe! All too often, we get our minds completely off the great GOAL set before us.
God inspired the Apostle Paul to compare our efforts with those of the Olympic-class athletes: “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown” (1 Corinthians 9:24–25). Note that a top athlete must be “temperate” in all things. He or she cannot smoke at all. If one is to drink alcohol, it must be in real moderation—and even then not just before a performance. Athletes must be “in control” of their bodies, their minds and their emotions at all times. They must “think positive,” be “keyed up” and DRIVE themselves to be the very best they can be!
Anything less will doom them to failure, for they are not preparing for an afternoon “pick-up” softball game with the boys. They are competing against the very top athletes of the entire world. They know that most of those other young people will be deeply motivated to WIN for their personal honor, the honor of their family and friends and the honor of the entire nation that they represent. They know that the American athletes, for instance, will be moved profoundly by the thought of standing on the victory platform, seeing the American flag featured and hearing the rousing notes of the trumpets, the trombones and all the instruments playing “The Star Spangled Banner” in their honor—and the honor of their nation.
WOW!
What an inspiration this is to the vibrant young athletes who set for themselves the goal of winning a gold medal in the Olympic Games. Achieving that goal will be a high point—perhaps the high point—of their entire lives on planet Earth. For all of the arduous early morning and sometimes late evening training, often in addition to regular jobs or careers—all of the self-sacrifice and self-discipline, all of the missed parties and missed socializing—will have been more than worth it to these athletes in their moment of glory.
At the 1960 Olympic Games, Jeff Farrell was America’s top hope in swimming. Just six days before the Olympic trials, Farrell was taken to the hospital for an emergency appendectomy. The rest of the story was told in Parade Magazine, February 18, 1996:
With the stitches still not removed and against doctor’s orders, Farrell entered both the 100and the 200-meter trials. “I finished third in the 100-meters and missed making the team, since only the first two finishers were selected,” recalled Farrell. “But then I learned that two relay teams would be selected from the first six finishers in the 200-meters.”
Farrell made the relay teams and swam the anchor legs, leading the U.S.A. to two gold medals and two world records. “I wanted to win an Olympic gold medal, and nothing was going to stop me,” Farrell said.
“Nothing” was going to stop him from winning? That, my brethren, is the “attitude of a champion”! A true champion goes ALL OUT to achieve his goals. He does not keep looking behind him to see if the “other guy” is catching up. Rather, with all his being, he goes straight forward—“flat out” as we say—and drives himself to the finish line.
After describing his profound desire to attain his GOAL—to participate in the resurrection from the dead—the Apostle Paul wrote: “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:12–14).
Paul said, “I PRESS toward the goal…” How many of us are headed “flat out” for the Kingdom of God? How many are truly disciplining themselves to get up early enough each morning to PRAY earnestly and at length before anything else can interfere? How many are disciplining themselves in the “spiritual Olympics” in which we are all involved and “making time” for regular, intensive Bible study, meditation and fasting? How many of us are truly giving our LIVES to God in order to be with Him FOREVER?
In the 1960 Olympic Games, America’s top discus thrower was Al Oerter. He was given little chance to defeat world-record-holder Ludvik Danek of Czechoslovakia, who had won 45 straight competitions. Again, the above-mentioned article in Parade Magazine tells us the rest of the story:
It would be difficult to defeat Danek even if I was in top physical condition,” said Oerter recently. “But about a week before the competition, I tore cartilage in my rib cage. The pain was excruciating, and my doctors said there was no way I could compete. Given any other environment, I would have quit. But I remember clearly saying, “These are the Olympic Games, and you DIE for them.” I really felt that. So, on the day of the competition, I decided I would make the supreme effort on just one throw and endure the pain. So, on my fifth attempt, my next to last throw, I let it all out. The pain was unbelievable. I did not see where the discus landed. I was doubled up for a few seconds and blacked out. Then I heard this tremendous roar and it was announced that I had broken the Olympic record and was in first place. The throw held up for the sixth and final round, and I was Olympic champion.
Remember Oerter’s key statement: “These are the Olympic Games, and you DIE for them!”
How much MORE should this statement resonate with us who are striving for the absolute supreme GOAL in all the earth—to become full members of the very Family of God? We must NEVER take our calling lightly! Rather, as Paul told Timothy, we must “stir up” the gift of the Holy Spirit. With the help and inspiration of the Living Jesus Christ within us, we must motivate ourselves powerfully to join Him and the glorified saints in the air above Jerusalem. Then, with Christ, we will descend to this earth in GLORY to join our Savior in RULING over all the nations. With all our being, we must each strive to be part of the glorious first resurrection: “Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years” (Revelation 20:6).
Brethren, though many of our physical bodies are getting old, each of us can and must develop the “heart of a champion.” We must come to understand and profoundly appreciate the magnificent GOAL which God Himself set before us when He called us. Then, we must be willing to go “all out” and even DIE for that goal if necessary!
We ought regularly to review the lesson of the “pearl of great price.” For Jesus taught us: “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it” (Matthew 13:45–46). Are you and I willing to sell “all” that we have in order to gain that “pearl”? Are we willing to discipline ourselves continually, as the young Olympic champions do, in order to achieve our ultimate goal?
Even though many of us may not be “champions” by nature, we can be champions for Jesus Christ! We can surrender to Him and receive His strength, His nature and His character. For if we are sincerely trying hard, God Himself will give us all the help we need: “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, WORK OUT your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is GOD who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12–13).
