Running to Win the Race.

The Paris Olympics will showcase the talents of athletes from around the world. However, we are all in a race. Stephen March explains.

The First Olympic Games

The first Olympic games I can recall were unfortunately not filled with happy memories. On September 24, 1988, I sat with my family, and along with probably most of the country, watched as our champion sprinted his way to Olympic Gold and a new World record in the 100m final. Canada was elated. Our Prime Minister declared it to be a “marvelous evening for Canada.” My first experience watching the games had started off great.

For the next two days it seemed the whole nation was abuzz over Ben Johnson’s victory, he was the greatest runner and fastest human ever. On the third day, everyone was still talking about him, only now the tone of the conversations had changed. Ben Johnson had cheated, he was on steroids, he would be disqualified and would lose the gold medal.

Embarrassed

Now, I was too young to comprehend the nature of the sport, the pressures put on these athletes to perform and win. I was just shocked.

At first, I was angry with Ben, he had embarrassed the whole country. I was also extremely disappointed, who doesn’t want to be on the winning side? We were there, and then we weren’t. As I got older though, I started to feel sympathy for Ben Johnson. Don’t get me wrong, I still feel he got what he deserved, but I could start to understand what he had lost.

The Sporting Side and the Human Side

On the sporting side of things, here was a man that had dedicated year after year to this one discipline. Constant training, and pushing himself harder, trying to find even an extra one hundredth of a second he could shave off his time. Culminating in one moment, one spotlight, less than 10 seconds between him and world champion status. It was in his grasp, and then it was gone forever, not even a second-place finish.

Disqualified, it was as if he hadn’t even been there, all that training, all that hard work, for a collection of headlines that displayed his shame to the world.

On the human side, he lost the respect of his nation, his peers and others not just in his sport but in the entire athletic community. His reputation was tarnished.

Rebound

Fortunately, Ben Johnson was able to rebound from this as the years went on, after all, it’s only a sport and at the end of the day, even the Olympics are really just another event in the grand scheme of things. The sad part about Ben Johnson’s story, is that it continues to happen over and over again on an even grander and much more significant level.

In 1 Corinthians 9: 24-25, Paul writes,

“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. Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.”

In 2 Timothy 2:5 he would add,

“Also if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not win the prize unless he competes according to the rules.”

We are in a Race

Whether we realize it or not, or whether we want to admit it or not, we are all in a race with the most critical outcome concerning winning and losing. Since the only way to win the race is by competing according to the rules, we better know what those rules are. We need to know what the race is, and what we are competing for.

I’ll start with the prize; it is everlasting life in the glory of heaven. That’s what every winner will receive. But be warned, the stakes are high, because not winning results in more than just missing out on the prize, it comes with a lost eternity in the lake of fire. How can this be? More importantly, how can we be sure to win this race? Let’s look at the rules.

The Race of Life

We can call this race whatever we want, the race of life, of time, of choices. It begins the day we are born and will end the day we die. The Bible says in the book of Hebrews, it is appointed for men to die once, and after this comes judgment.

Wait a minute, judgment? Yes. The Bible makes it very clear that no person can make it through this life, this race, without breaking a few rules. It calls this sin. Essentially, sin is anything that goes against God’s ways and His nature. We are all guilty.

Romans 3:23 tells us that

“all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

It is impossible for us not to do this, we will all make bad choices, do the wrong thing, think evil thoughts, all of which violate God’s standard. So, if we have all broken the rules already, how can we possibly win the race?

The Theme of the Bible

Well, there is one other rule. This rule is the theme of the entire Bible. Even though we have already been disqualified by our sin, God loves us so much that He has provided a way to be requalified, and not only that, but guaranteed to win.

Romans 6:23 tells us that the wages, or penalty of sin is death, that’s the disqualification, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. So, that’s the prize, and since we know we can’t receive the prize if we are disqualified, how can we get it?

Salvation

The Bible tells us that God sent His son, Jesus, into the world to save us. To free us from the penalty of our sin. He did this by taking that very penalty upon himself, when he gave up His life for us on the cross. The choice God puts before us, is to believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and that by dying and rising again He has paid the price of our sins in full.

If we do that, if we believe in Him, our sins are forgiven. And not just the sins of our past, but the sins we commit after we believe, and we will commit them, they too are covered by the grace of God through
faith in Jesus Christ.

Faith in Jesus

Through faith in Jesus, when we come to the end of our race, we will be declared, righteous, eligible and victorious, based on the sacrifice of the perfect one, Jesus Christ, on our behalf. John 3:18 says “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” That’s it, the only rule that truly matters at the end of the race.

So many people get to the finish line thinking that their goodness, their morality, the things they have done, or their charitable acts will be enough to declare them winners. They think they can be victorious without God, with out the Lord Jesus. The Bible says it is not so, they will reach the end, with victory within
their grasp, only to lose everything, even their very souls. Don’t let this be you. Ben Johnson lost out on his prize because of one wrong choice. You have a choice before you right now; Will you accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour. Make the right choice and receive your prize.

What memories do you have about the Olympic Games? We would love to hear from you. Comment below or contact us at HopeStreamRadio.