As a child, I used to enjoy running across freshly plowed fields, down dirt roads and through trails in the woods of our farm in Tennessee. (It was so effortless then!) We moved to town right as I entered middle school, and for a variety of reasons I became a couch potato. It was in my senior year at Cumberland College that I decided to do something about the shape I had gotten in.
I decided to run ----- on the first day I made it about one city block before my side started killing me. Fortunately I tried again the next day and wonder of wonders I went two blocks! I took such courage and inspiration from the improvement that I continued to run regularly - even competing in 10k races and a couple marathons. (Seoul Korea and Ft Worth TX) I share this just now because we are in the middle of the 28th Olympiad and daily we are hearing of all these world class athletes who are accomplishing such incredible fetes. The fact of the matter is that very, very few individuals are able to even qualify for the Olympics, and then only one is able to win the gold medal. I guess I am thinking of the race we are all engaged in as Christians. In 1Corinthians 9:25 Paul addresses the fact that runners (athletes) compete in the games to get a crown that will not last but the crown for which we strive will last forever.
It has been interesting to see how some of the athletes handle a bad performance in the competition. It is a very strong human tendency to throw up ones hands and quit after a failure, but this is not the attitude we observe in these Olympians. They get up and try, try again - sometimes with golden results!
Throughout life I have missed the mark many times, and you have too. The question is always the same. What do we do now? The evil one would have us give up, throw in the towel and remove ourselves from the “race”, but this is the exact opposite of what we should do. Even Paul said “when I would do good evil is always present.” What are we to do? I think we need to do what a brother recently reminded me to do. Trust the fact that anyone who has placed their trust in Jesus Christ has received a NEW HEART!!!! The old one is gone and we have new heart. We will fall short of the mark many, many times, but still we keep our focus on Jesus and what He has accomplished for us - not on the past failure. Jesus died to pay the price for our sin/shortcoming/failure. A good response is found in the words of a hymn. “Just as I am without one plea, but that Thy blood was shed for me and that You bid me come to Thee – O Lamb of God I come.
As the Olympic’s wind down, as Summer tapers off and a new school year begins, it is my prayer that God will give to you and me a renewed and deeper understanding of what He has already done for us in Christ. I also pray that we may have a sense of starting fresh with a new beginning!
“Let us run with patience the race marked out for us, keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith.” (Heb. 12:1,2)
In His Love,
Cyrus
