Champions

As I write, I am watching the men’s Olympic Trials for the 100, 200, and 1500 meter semi-finals. It’s incredible, really. The muscle mass of the sprinters. The disciplined pacing of the 5000 meter runners. The strength of their finishes. The power of their strides. It is God’s creation at its finest. The 1500 meter is one of my favorite distances to watch: it is short enough never to be interrupted by a commercial break, long enough to pick a favorite runner, and you can see the pacing-slower at first but that last 400 meters is a blur of muscle. The top 1500 semi-final finisher crossed the line with a time of 3:40:07. Phenomenal.

I couldn’t just sit and watch. Oh, I had my favorites and cheered loudly (a sincere apology to my neighbors), but I had to be involved in their physical prowess in some way. So, I grabbed my free weights from the weight room and had a personal max-out session during the Olympic trials. It was challenging, inspirational, and painful. But as long as they kept running at such high speeds, I keep pressing. My shoulders are now so weak that I can hardly type, but it was worth it. Worth it - it was incredible. I was able to taste it. For that hour, I sweated alongside the runners trying to qualify for the 2008 Olympics.

Not that I am anything like them. They are runners from head to toe, twenty-four hours a day. I am a runner for an hour or two a day between work and sleep and socializing and life. As I lay a mass of quivering, jello-like muscle, after my max out session, I started to think about what separates those Olympic-level runners from the rest of us. Yes, they have talent, they are superior athletes. But what truly sets them apart from us, the mass of runners who rise at 5am every morning to hit the trails? If you had the same coaches, sponsors, racing shoes, and ran for a living….. what makes them Olympic runners while the rest of us are just runners?

DISCIPLINE
Early morning runs; check. Strength training; check. Speed drills; check. Rain, snow, or Texas-style heat; makes no difference. Olympic level runners never stop running, never stop training, never stop. Everything about their life is disciplined. That sounds exhausting, but the secret about discipline is that every day you live up to those high standards inspires the next day and the next. Just enough discipline to train today makes tomorrow’s training happen. When I miss a workout, or sleep through my early morning alarm, or eat so much that I can’t make it past a 5k – those are the days that discourage me from reaching my training goals in the coming days.

A CLEAR GOAL
Those runners are top level competitors because they live every second of every day with their ultimate goal in mind. They are runners and nothing or no one can distract them from that goal. They are focused on an end-point and can see nothing but the finish line. My weakness as a runner is that I get distracted by a late night, a bowl of homemade ice cream, or a blister and stop living like a runner. Honestly, I am a distracted runner. I sometimes forget that I am in training. I get distracted by life and can’t quite make out the finish line. Obviously, the Olympics are not in my future.

I know some Olympic-level Christians. They are all-in when it comes to Jesus Christ. They are the Christ-followers who wake up in the middle of the night with a burden to pray for the persecution in the Sudan. They tithe even when they don’t get a paycheck. They witness the gospel in their life, words, and actions: purposefully and unintentionally. They start churches, serve as missionaries in closed countries, give to the needy in secret, spend hours each day being cleansed by the Word, and pray without ceasing. They are poured out for Jesus Christ every minute of every day. Spiritual Olympians.

What sets Spiritual Giants apart from your every day average Christian? What makes a Spiritual Olympian different from the masses who fill the church pews each Sunday? We have the same resources: made in the image of God, salvation provided by Jesus Christ, guidance by the Holy Spirit, written instructions and inspiration in the Bible, direct connection to God through prayer. What makes them Spiritually elite while everyone else are Sunday-only Christians?

DISCIPLINE
Early morning times with God; check. Lat night Scripture memory; check. Bible study; check. Faithful hearing, preaching, teaching of the word. Listening to God in prayer. Interceding on behalf of others. Obedience to the Holy Spirit. Confession of sin. Witnessing the gospel of Christ to the lost. Discipling the saved to maturity. Olympic-level Christ followers never stop following Christ, never stop running the race of the Christian life, when they look back it is only for a moment and then they run on. Everything in their lives is about Jesus, for Jesus, because of Jesus. And to be with Him, to be like Him, everything about their life is disciplined. They are so dependent on Him that everything in life is controlled by Him to be closer to Him. "But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified." 1 Corinthians 9:27.

A CLEAR GOAL
Those Christians are spiritual giants because they live every second of every day with their ultimate goal in mind. Jesus Christ, the Kingdom of God, the redemption of the world is their first and last though, the reason for everything they do. Spiritual Olympians are focused on the finish: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.” 2 Timothy 4:7. The weakness in the Christianized masses is that they are distracted by life, love, worry, stress, and football season – and forget their purpose. To be a spiritual giant, a Christian must make God number one, barr none.

Chances are, you will never make the Olympics. But you can be numbered among the elite, those who walk with God. You have the victory of the cross, the power of Jesus Christ, the counsel of the Holy Spirit, and the will of God on your side. All that is needed is you to fix your eyes on the goal and discipline yourself to reach it.

"Having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.” Ephesians 1:18-22

“Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained. Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.” Philippians 3:12-21.

As you watch the Olympic trials and the Beijing Olympic Games, remember that you have the opportunity of a lifetime (of an eternity, actually) to be number among the spiritual elite, those who knew God. All that is required is a disciplined faith with an unwavering focus on the prize.

It is your life, your race, your choice.

Will you run with the masses or be a Champion?

Choose wisely.

Spiritual Olympians:
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
- By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts.
- By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God.
- By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.
- By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.
- By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son. He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.
- By faith Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave directions concerning his bones.
- By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.
- By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them.
- By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days.
- By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.
- By faith Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets—who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated- of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.