[Monday's Devotional] - The podium moment

The London Olympics last year was a great opportunity to share in the podium moments of the Olympic medallists.  But, for every podium moment there are years of unseen training and discipline to achieve the best performance on the day.  And also, for each of the three medallists in each event there were a crowd of competitors who went away with no reward.  After 4 years of intense training, the event itself can go horribly wrong.  Perhaps you remember the cycling event with Victoria Pendleton and Jess Varnish where Pendleton broke too soon for her final lap and the result was that they were disqualified and their medal hopes for that event (the only one Varnish could have won) were dashed.

Every moment of victory is the result of many years of rigorous training - early starts, constant training, putting everything and everyone behind the goal of victory.  Steve Redgrave famously stated "Anyone sees me go anywhere near a boat, you've got my permission to shoot me," after winning his 4th gold medal in 1996 - yet only a short time later he was back in training and in spite of developing Type 2 Diabetes he went on to complete another four years of punishing training and achieve his 5th gold medal at the Sydney Olympics at the age of 38.

Perhaps you have had a few "podium moments" in your life, or maybe you are still "training hard" and can't see any light at the end of the tunnel.  Life is not ultimately about competition and being better than everyone else, and the prize we are seeking is not something that has limited shelf life.  Paul explains it to the Corinthians like this:

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. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. 1 Corinthians 9: 24-27 [NIV]

Lord, help me to keep training and running the race in order to gain my crown that will last for ever.  Thank you for giving me a life worth living and a reason to persist in the race.  Amen.

Dave MacLellan