Every two years, the alternating winter and summer olympics bring a mixed bag of emotions to the viewers. We sit in front of our TVs and alternate between jubilant shouts for the victors and heartbreak tears for the losers. Faces of Olympic contenders are caught on camera – faces marked by uncontrolled celebration and others by unbearable disappointment. There are gracious winners and losers, and those who can’t quite accept defeat or humbly wear the winner’s laurel.
But behind each athlete is the same drive, a quest for the same goal – Olympic gold. And behind that drive is an unwavering discipline of the mind, spirit and body. This motivation to strive relentlessly to tone muscles, build strength, develop perseverance and embrace a champion mindset is not common – it is quite uncommon. That’s why there are only a handful of athletes worldwide who can qualify to represent their countries. They are the ones who have mastered the disciplines of training, taken their God-given abilities and fine-tuned them to produce magnificent efforts on the track, in the pool, in the gym, on the rink and the slopes.
As we approach the 2024 Paris Summer Olympic Games, I’m thinking the same thoughts that came to me 8 years ago after the August 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. I wrote them all down and am now reminding myself how God used those Olympic games to challenge me in my faith. I was struck by these incredible individual efforts one morning during my prayer and study time. I began to consider the losers in the various events – what it might feel like to walk away from a competition in defeat, reviewing the countless hours of preparation and asking what you could have done differently to earn that gold medal around your neck. How would it feel to hear someone else’s national anthem being played and sung when you dreamed it would be yours? Are athletes already plotting their return in 4 years, imagining that 4 more years of rigorous discipline and training will put them on the winner’s stand? Are they already counting the cost of what lies before them – taking on the burden of commitment to a single goal of victory, knowing the patience and perseverance required to move forward, even if it ends in defeat?
As if often the case, while my mind was racing through imaginary scenarios for these dedicated athletes who were willing to sacrifice so much of their lives to compete again for possible victory or possible loss, God launched a spiritual javelin into my heart…yes, a javelin because it beautifully pierced my heart. He asked me if I was an Olympian for Jesus, willing to discipline myself for Kingdom purposes, eager to set aside things of this world to pursue eternal victories. Did my life as a follower of Christ match the zeal and enthusiasm Olympic athletes have for their competitions? Did I care enough about my relationship with the Father to rise early and spend time with him, to devote the necessary time to study His word, to submit my waking hours for His purposes, to embrace a razor-sharp focus on following Christ? Was I willing to do what the coach said was required to be an Olympian for Jesus?
What was so refreshing in this javelin jolt was how God spoke into my questions a simple response – He was not only calling, but He was also equipping. I was not on my own, struggling to be His disciple. He was providing everything I needed, He was cultivating the desire in my heart to honor Him with my life, He was strengthening me through his own resurrection power to follow Him. And then He gently reminded me that there would be no eternal defeat, only eternal gain. The prize is secured through the sacrificial atoning death of Jesus Christ. I am training for certain victory, the gold around my neck, the winner’s stand secured.
And 8 years later, as I reread those words, I find myself once again challenged at this stage of life to pursue being an Olympian for Jesus. What I put on paper 8 years ago remains true today, what God spoke to me in that javelin throw to my heart has no less impact than it had then. And the challenge is no less important than it was 8 years ago. So I ask myself again, what does it mean to be an Olympian for Jesus?
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