This week hubby and I have been watching bits and snippets of the Olympics. YouTube has short 5-6 min. video clips of highlights where you can peruse different sports, and the gold winners of each event.
We’ve watched a bit of speed climbing (Fascinating! I didn’t even know that was a sport.). We’ve watched some kayaking; some crew. A bit of gymnastics, synchronized diving, synchronized swimming. We checked out the shooting clip which went viral. We watched a 6 hr. bike race compacted into only 6 min. And more …
In each short video clip, we only saw the highlights of the event, and the winner of gold. We didn’t see the struggle of the entire challenge. We didn’t see all the many athletes. We only saw the winner of gold, and perhaps silver.
The Bible compares the Christian life to running in an Olympic-type race:
“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.” – 1 Corinthians 9:24-25
We’ve all seen the Olympic laurel wreath crowns.
When Jesus comes back and he gives us rewards, it will be like receiving an Olympic laurel wreath crown!
But the thing is, when we watch the Olympic games, there is only 1 winner. The short YouTube video clips don’t even give us a chance to see the other athletes. We don’t see any of the struggle.
Obviously, the struggle of the process “must not really matter” … and obviously all those other athletes “must not really matter” … because only the #1 top amazing person who receives the gold medal and the Olympic laurel wreath crown is what matters most!
Perhaps you might feel like me … perhaps you are thinking: When it comes to the rewards Jesus gives, I don’t have a chance at receiving that #1 top amazing Olympic laurel wreath crown from Jesus.
After all … I’m not like that person over there. Look at them! They have amazing energy and are doing amazing things for Jesus! I can’t do that. I don’t have that kind of strength or energy. I don’t have those talents or those skills.
I’m doing the very best I can with what I’ve got … but it’s not as good as what they are doing.
Have you ever felt this way?
I have!
As I’ve been pondering on these things this week, God brought to mind the account of the poor widow who gave everything she had to God:
“Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny.
“Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, ‘I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth, but she, out of her poverty, put in everything – all she had to live on.’”
– Mark 12:41-44
God tied all these thoughts (on running hard to win the laurel crown) together for me when I was perusing the photos of little alpine wildflowers growing up at Sunrise.
Perhaps you might feel like your life is like this little flower …
It doesn’t really look like much … growing high on an alpine slope where nobody can even see it. It certainly doesn’t look like the beautiful, impressive flowers we see growing in immaculately cultivated yards, or in florist arrangements.
I feel like my life is like this little flower here. This little flower is bright and cheerful. But this flower is very much “not perfect.” It’s “misshapen” and “missing some petals.” That’s the way I feel.
God made some people to be like this little flower here. This flower is mellow. So also, these types of people tend to be calm, chill, and mellow.
These little flowers are growing out of rock. God made some people to bloom beautifully out of incredibly hard, difficult, rocky situations.
And if you notice, the path is just at the top of the photo. These flowers, growing out of the rock, are brightening the rocky path which others are travelling.
Maybe you are this small unobtrusive flower …
Or you might be this stately lily …
In thinking about Jesus giving rewards to those who love and follow him, we could compare it to Jesus giving rewards to these flowers.
Which of these flowers would receive the #1 highest best reward?
Would the highest best reward be given to the most beautiful flower??
But who’s to say which one is the most beautiful? Perhaps the flower you think is the most beautiful might be different than the flower I think is the most beautiful.
God created all these flowers. He made them each unique and different. So, who’s to say which one is the most beautiful. If God created each of them, specifically, then God is very pleased and delighted with each of them, specifically.
If they each are blooming, just the way God made them to bloom, then they each would equally deserve the reward for being most beautiful flower!
This is you! This is me!
God made you specifically. God made me specifically.
God made you unique, to bloom in the world as only you can bloom. And God made me unique, to bloom in the world as only I can bloom.
As we each live our life just the way God made us to be, blooming how God made us to bloom and in the specific place God wants us to bloom, then God is very pleased and delighted with us! Jesus has an Olympic laurel crown for us!
How about the small flower growing out of the rocks? Would it be overlooked for a reward simply because it is small and “insignificant” and is growing out of the rocks??
No … this little flower isn’t too “insignificant” to receive a reward. It’s blooming how God made it to bloom … in the place God made it to bloom!
Just because your life doesn’t look like someone else’s life does not mean that your “Olympic race” doesn’t matter and that there’s no way you could ever receive the Olympic laurel crown.
The thing is … when it comes down to it, none of us are worthy of receiving the Olympic laurel crown. At all.
All of us are sinners.
All of us are unworthy.
All of us fall short of God’s holiness.
Isn’t this image great!
This is us!
All of us are helpless, lost little sheep. All of us are in need of rescuing!
And Jesus rescued us! Jesus left heaven and came down to Earth to rescue us! Jesus died in our place to rescue us from our sin!
If we believe in Jesus, and accept His free gift of forgiveness and salvation from our sins … this is the win! This is the Olympic laurel crown!
It’s not us. It’s nothing we can do by our own effort or works.
It’s all Jesus!
We win the Olympic laurel crown because of Jesus’s work!
But not only that … once we have accepted Jesus’s free gift of salvation and forgiveness of sin, the only way we are able to triumphantly “run the race” of this life is by the power of the Holy Spirit working in us!
It’s not us. We can’t “bloom” beautifully for Jesus by our own effort or works.
It’s all the work of the Holy Spirit in us!
We win the Olympic laurel crown because of the Holy Spirit’s work in and through us!
It is the Holy Spirit’s power which gives us the strength to persevere and be faithful … so that we can receive the Crown of Life. (James 1:12; Revelation 2:10)
It is the Holy Spirit’s power which produces the Righteousness of Christ in our life … so that we can receive the Crown of Righteousness. (2 Timothy 4:8)
So run the race! Give it all you’ve got! Run hard for that Olympic laurel crown!
Bloom your heart out! Right where God has planted you! Bloom beautifully … to win the prize!!
