From one angle, I'm just fascinated by the results of hard work, endless training, determination, fighting through injuries, and physical accomplishments. We are watching the utmost in human accomplishments in specific skills - the endurance of cross country, the artistry of skating, the control of the biathlon, the mad sweeping skills of curling (you knew that was coming), and on down the line. The best in the world in this age achieving as close to the maximum as anyone on earth. Many of them make it look effortless, even though most people couldn't even accomplish even a fraction of what they're doing. Truly, man is fearfully and wonderfully made.
From another angle, I'm bothered by grown people spending years of their lives just to win at a sporting event. For many, a gold medal will never lead to a career, endorsements, or a regular income. For most, they won't even medal. I think especially of those who are eliminated in the very first round. You travel halfway around the world, and in two minutes, your Olympic participation is over. Even for the medalists who end up with long-term benefits, how important is it really to win sliding on the ice and snow?
I know I can't have one without the other - approaching the human potential requires the years of dedication, which is my conundrum.
From yet another angle, and perhaps more this year than ever, I see some athletes who are good enough to be in the running, but it all seems to be a personal playscape for them. They have the potential to be great (my first observation), but don't take it seriously (the opposite of my second observation).
I'm not saying that any Olympian is wasting their time or just being worldly. Even the two-minute wonders are impressive to me. Rather, they can prove to be good examples for us. I compare the magnitude of our prizes and our dedication. Our prize in Christ is the Kingdom; the prize of even the purest-motivated Olympian is a medal, perhaps an income, and even less likely, a career. Our dedication in Christ should be greater than the dedication of the hardest-working Olympian ... but frankly, too many of us aren't as committed for the Kingdom as they are for a medal. We have the greater prize and too often the lesser commitment. Let the Olympians inspire us not just as wannabe athletes, but as a people dedicated to the greatest prize. Call it our "mettle count."
Paul also drew encouragement from the Olympians of his day:
1 Cor 9:24 Do you not know that all the runners in a stadium compete, but only one receives the prize? So run to win. 9:25 Each competitor must exercise self-control in everything. They do it to receive a perishable crown, but we an imperishable one. 9:26 So I do not run uncertainly or box like one who hits only air. 9:27 Instead I subdue my body and make it my slave, so that after preaching to others I myself will not be disqualified.
Php 3:12 Not that I have already attained this—that is, I have not already been perfected—but I strive to lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus also laid hold of me. 3:13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have attained this. Instead I am single-minded: Forgetting the things that are behind and reaching out for the things that are ahead, 3:14 with this goal in mind, I strive toward the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
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