Olympic moments...

So have you been watching the winter Olympics any? Well, I must tell you that I really enjoy the Olympics. I am a huge sports fan and I enjoy watching many sports that we do not see so often on TV. There is also the fact that I could probably never do what any of these athletes do that intrigues me.

Snow and ice are definitely not where I fit in the best. In fact the last time I was trying to play a game on ice, I lost my footing and fell face first into the ice. So I am not the most graceful needless to say. And that was with snow boots on. So when I see these skaters, balancing on only a thin blade, jumping in the air and landing perfectly or weaving in and out of one another at top speeds I am rather impressed. When I see the rubbered knees of a mogul skier combined with awesome acrobatics in the air I am impressed. When I see a "flying tomato" spinning and flipping in the air and landing flawlessly on a snowboard I am impressed.

These athletes spend much of their lives training for these events. So when you see them achieve victory you are very happy for them and for the country they represent. And when you see them fall or slip you feel a little bit of pain for them because they have worked so hard to get to that point. Countless hours of work have been put in by each of these athletes and they have one chance to make it pay off. Their desire is to achieve the prize (the gold medal) they have worked so hard for. And when they achieve that prize, all the hard work was worth it.

The apostle Paul tells us that we too should live our lives on this earth as believers in a way to acheive the prize. The prize he speaks of is not going to heaven or salvation, but Paul is speaking of eternal rewards for the believer. He uses the illustration of running a race in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27. And at the time Paul wrote this, the Corinthians would know what he was talking about because they had their own Olympics.

Paul says for us to run in a way to get the prize. This takes focus and discipline. For an Olympian on this earth, this means hours of physical training. For the believer, this means we should be training spiritually. We should be disciplining ourselves in a way that Christ is the center of our lives. We should be filling our minds with His Word and looking to Him for the strength that we need to finish the race and get the prize. Sometimes this means not doing or saying what everyone else is doing and saying. This means separating ourselves from the world and separating ourselves unto God. This takes discipline, it takes focus and it demands us being dependent upon God. But our purpose for life and our desire is to be pleasing to God. And there is no greater prize than we can receive than a prize that will last forever. Those medals given at the Olympics will one day be destroyed. But our prize will last forever. And as hard and difficult as it is sometimes here upon this earth, when we get to heaven and receive rewards from our Heavenly Father, it will be more than worth it.

So as you watch the Olympics, as you watch the medal ceremonies, never forget that you too are in a competition so to speak. You are in a race. It is your life as a believer on this earth. And our desire should be to gain that eternal reward. And if you think it is awesome at the Olympics when they receive the medals, it will be much more awesome in heaven. Let us live our lives to bring honor and glory to God.