Sunday 4th August 2024
And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,
fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.
For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame,
and sat down at the right hand of the throne God.
Hebrews 12:1b-2 (NIV)
The Race of your Life
It is 100 years since Paris last hosted the Olympic Games. It was at that Olympics in 1924 that British athlete Eric Liddell famously refused to run in the heats of the 100m race, when he learned in advance that they would take place on a Sunday. He did this even though it was his best distance and he was expected to win the gold medal because, as a committed Christian, he felt that this was what God wanted of him. The story is well-told in the Oscar-winning film Chariots of Fire.
He moved instead to the 200m, where he won bronze, and also to the 400m, a distance he was not used to running, where he ended up winning the gold medal in a world record time of 47.6 seconds. Within a year, with the world at his feet, he left for China to serve as a missionary teaching English. In 1943 he was imprisoned by the Japanese and served his fellow prisoners with unrelenting self-sacrifice. Sadly, by 1945 his health was failing and he died of a brain tumour in the prison camp, aged just 43.
In his excellent booklet telling Lidell’s story, called Running the Race of Your Life, J John shows how Lidell’s example poses us some serious questions: What takes priority in our lives? What controls how we live? What price are we prepared to pay? He says that “Lidell’s life was dominated by three things: one guide, the Bible; one figure, Jesus, whom he took as his living Lord; one goal, giving all he had for the Jesus who had saved him.” And he concludes with this question: “Eric Lidell ran the race of his life faithfully and well. Will you?”
You can read the booklet for yourself online at:
https://issuu.com/philotrust/docs/running-the-race-of-your-life-v1?fr=sODlkYzc0MjczNzg
Lord, help me to run the race of my life faithfully and well, for your sake. Amen.
Yours warmly, in Christ,
Chris Hobbs (Senior Minister)