Watching the Olympics has created some questions in my mind. Since the time these athletes have been little, they have known what their biggest dream is: an Olympic gold medal. It is a tangible goal. A piece of solid gold hanging around their neck, then on the wall, then maybe in a box, then maybe in the attic of some relative that never even knew them. Just the legend remains.
I compare training for the Olympics with running the race Paul talks about in places in the New Testament. Our goal is less tangible. Or at least it is to me. I can try to be an imitator of Christ, but by its very nature, the word imitator implies doing it under my own strength. As we run our race, we are to do as Christ does, but by the power of the Holy Spirit working through us. Sometimes I'm chugging along and I feel like sitting down in the middle of the track, while I wait for the Spirit to catch up to me. Other times I wonder how I got so far, and I realize it is like the Footprints poem-He carried me.
Sometimes I just wish I could get a glimpse of the prize waiting for me, but as I write this, I know I already have. To live with our King, to always have that feeling that occasionally I get that is too overwhelming for words. Writing this out has helped me to realize that I already know more than I thought. While an Olympic medal is cool and all, the prize I am training for is too big to be kept in someone's attic.
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