Awesome to watch the Olympics, especially when we get to see the best in history. Mike Phelps crushing world records and winning gold medals in droves. Wow!
I also watched a documentary on how the Chinese build their Olympic team. Since their Communist, they tell the people what to do. So, if they find a family that is athletic and decide that their 3-yr will be a great athlete one day, then they kindly drag the kid from the parents and off to the gym. They groom them into world-caliber athletes and then put the best on their Olympic team. Great to be an American! We do it just a little different, but have unbelievable success. Parents and children here volunteer to train rigorously for years to obtain greatness. From a young age, parents are taking their kids to intense training, home schooling them to keep them in athletics as much as possible, and forking out $10,000s, if not $100,000s. The young athletes train about 8 hrs daily for years. They have a focused-intensity on only achieving greatness in their sport.
I wonder what would happen if we would put that kind of intense focus and discipline into
our relationship with God and giving our all to Him. What if we devoted ourselves to following Jesus the way these Olympians have to a sport? What if we gave our kids and all new believers in our churches the same kind of focused support and backing to grow spiritual as these parents have? We would probably develop an "Olympic-class" of Jesus-followers.
Read: 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 and Hebrews 12:1-4.
How can we step up our own intensity in following Jesus?
What holds us back from being as intense about Jesus as these Olympians are about sports?
3 comments:
Great challenge!!We need to create an atmosphere of excellence in chasing after Christ's purposes in our life.
But a quick look at the Olympics as well... Michael Phelps goes for gold tonight. Number 6.
Perhaps what holds us back is not seeing the immediate or tangible reward. On the other hand, what could be more tangible than being part of the "training process" to have our own children or someone we disciple form an intimate relationship with Christ?
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