It is a great honor to be able to compete in the Olympics. I have been able to watch some Olympic events and have thoroughly enjoyed them. Not everyone, or very few, make it to the final competition. Every country selects those who will represent them, and those chosen have proven themselves in that particular field or event. It takes many hours of training and sacrifice and discipline to be among those chosen. In my opinion, anyone who has worked hard enough or good enough to make it to the Olympics should be proud and consider themselves a winner.
Watching those events reminds me of something in the Bible. Anyone who has accepted Jesus Christ as personal Lord and Savior is on God’s team, the winning team (John 1:12). We are not born on God’s team; we have to want to be on it and ask God for it. The requirements are to ask God for forgiveness for our sins and put our faith in Jesus Christ and what He did on the cross, (John 3:16-21).
Then comes, what will we do now that we are on God’s team? To be a successful athlete, it takes commitment, sacrifice, time, discipline and training just as it does in Christianity, (2 Timothy 4:7, 1 Corinthians 9:27). There can be many gold medals, (Crowns) given out in heaven, (Philippians 3:14, 1 Thessalonians 2:19, 2 Timothy 4:8). See you in Church next Sunday.