Saturday, August 16, 2008

The Christian Olympics

Every four years athletes from all over the world converge on a city and compete against each other for the honors of being the best in their chosen sports.

I've been watching some of the Olympic coverage and as an American of course I am rooting for my countrymen. Imagine being so dominant in a sport that all other nations train their sites on you. They give themselves in their training to one pursuit and goal only, to beat you. I cannot imagine the pressure on an athlete like that on the American swimmer Michael Phelps. And yet in the middle of all that stress, he has risen above the challenge and has dominated in every race. As of this writing he has won 7 Gold Medals with one more race to go. AMAZING!

As I have pondered the events of this past week, I couldn't help but draw some parallels between the Olympic games and the Christian life. It is no wonder that the Apostle Paul used sports to illustrate and pound home some of his most important points about being a Christian. Sports can provide excellent analogies for conveying spiritual truth.

The Olympics are made up of individual and team events. Individual events recognize that specialization in one event fits some people's personality, gifting, talents and abilities. In one sense, they are competing against the world, but also against themselves. It is not unusual for an athlete to get her personal best time or performance on the world stage of the Olympics and yet place poorly in the competition. Here is where the parallel with the Christian life gets interesting. Sometimes your personal best isn't enough to win. So then, the victory is not just in getting the medal, but in knowing that you have done your best.

In team sports, an athlete has to contribute his best so that collectively the group can be better than the competition. For example, in basketball your point guard may not be as good as their point guard but it is offset by your forward or center being better than the center on the other team. Your point guard only has to be good enough to disrupt the flow of the ball player from the other team to give the advantage to your side. The synergy and chemistry of the team can be better than the sum of its parts. Scripture teaches that we are members of the Body and the Body functions best when all members contribute thereby maximizing strengths and minimizing weaknesses. Christianity is a team sport.

Christians are called to individual and team effort. Paul reminds us that we must "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." Simply put, there are no other team members who can help you in certain trials, temptations or tasks. God expects you to perform at optimum skill level trusting that He will supply the needed tools to accomplish His purposes.

On the other hand we are reminded that we are interdependent on one another so that a "threefold cord will not be broken." There is strength in coordinated and cooperative effort.

I hope we can be inspired by the preparation, effort and courage, expended by these athletes. Most of us know that the Haitian team will probably not win any medals. They have none in their entire history. This poverty stricken country has few athletes and are ill equipped, poorly trained and outspent. Yet they manage to show up for the games every 4 years to represent their country. It is a reminder that you can only determine where you are in the international standings by competing with and comparing yourself to the very best.

While the goal for all Olympians is to win the gold, usually there is only one winner in every event. The rest get their satisfaction from knowing that they competed and gave their very best.
Effort is the measure all athletes are ultimately judged by. The Apostle Paul recognized this when he stated the obvious, that only one receives the prize. But all should run with winning in mind.

"Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but {only} one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win." (1 Cor. 9:4)

I hope these Olympics inspire you to run the Christian race to win!

Saturday, August 09, 2008

Something to Think About

I came across this quote by A.W. Tozer and it contrasts so much with the average perspective of today's Christians that I thought I had to post it here on my blog.

There seems to be a lack of awareness of just how far apart the creation is from the Creator. The concept of and effects of sin are downplayed in our culture to the extent that sin is no longer considered to be an important reason for why so much is wrong with the world.

Few people will listen to a sober, grave voice calling us to recognize the gulf that exists between us and God. It doesn't change the fact that this message needs to be heard whether we choose to listen to it or not. I was stopped dead in my tracks as I pensively considers what this pastor had to say and how relevant it is for today. Following is the quote.

"The average person in the world today, without faith and without God and without hope, is engaged in a desperate personal search throughout his lifetime. He does not really know where he has been. He does not really know what he is doing here and now. He does not know where he is going.

The sad commentary is that he is doing it all on borrowed time and borrowed money and borrowed strength–and he already knows that in the end he will surely die! It boils down to the bewildered confession of many that “we have lost God somewhere along the way.”…

Man, made more like God than any other creature, has become less like God than any other creature. Created to reflect the glory of God, he has retreated sullenly into his cave–reflecting only his own sinfulness.

Certainly it is a tragedy above all tragedies in this world that man, made with a soul to worship and praise and sing to God’s glory, now sulks silently in his cave. Love has gone from his heart. Light has gone from his mind. Having lost God, he blindly stumbles on through this dark world to find only a grave at the end."

A W Tozer, Whatever Happened to Worship?, 65-66.