More Precious than Olympic Gold

If the Olympics were to adopt a human face that could represent its essence – that face belongs to Mark Spitz.  In the 1972 Munich Olympics, the American swimmer torpedoed into the pool and claimed seven gold medals, making him one of the top Olympians of all time. It therefore does not come as a surprise that others want to break Spitz’s record. In the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Michael Phelps, an American swimmer, promised to rewrite sports history by going for eight gold medals.

How are champions made? Other than innate abilities, Spitz trained hard. He once said: “The only side effect of too much training is that you get into better shape. There is nothing wrong with that.” He also had two things going for him: a supportive father and equally talented team mates. He was learning to swim as he began walking; and his father saw the potential of his son. Arnold Spitz took his son to the best coaches and even travelled 80 miles each way for his son’s training. He taught him the maxim: “Swimming isn’t everything; winning is.” At 18 years old, he competed in the 1968 Mexico Olympics boasting he would win six gold medals. He fell short of the target: winning two gold medals in team relay events, one silver, and a bronze. The experience taught him to change his demeanour from being proud to being cool and sociable. Not only did this make him closer to his team mates, it also inspired them to give their best. In Munich, he won in all the events he participated in: four individual gold medals and shared three gold medals with his team mates in relay races.

God wants us to be champions in the daily grind of life. Every day we are competing against Satan, a powerful adversary. While in sports competitions, there are sets of rules to ensure fair play, with the Devil there are no rules and he plays dirty. But then we can overcome Satan as we have the support of the Father and Son; and courageous team mates – the Holy Spirit, angels and saints ready to do battle for the good. “This is what the Lord says: Do not be afraid! Don’t be discouraged by this mighty army, for the battle is not yours, but God’s” (2 Chronicles 20:15) The Devil will try with all his might to wear us down as we race towards the reward of eternal life. Alone, we are no match to him; but if we have faith in God and be guided by His Word, we “put on all of God’s armour”. (Ephesians 6:11) Satan will then be vanquished.

While the Olympics happens once every four years, the competition against Satan comes about daily. Winning athletes like Mark Spitz and Michael Phelps train hard to gain gold medals; if we are strong in our faith we can earn medals more precious than gold. “Trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold – though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honour on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.” (1 Peter 1:7)

by Mel Libre