God's Olympics: Go for the Gold!

By Stacie Ruth Stoelting
Guest Columnist

CBN.com – “You know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize. So run to win!” (I Corinthians 9:24, NCV) Does that quote sound like one coming from an Olympics coach speaking to a contender?

Newsflash: it’s God.

God's book includes a lot of Olympic-like quotes. He wants us to condition, strength train, and be tough-minded.

Every person on earth is an athlete in God’s Olympics: Be sure you’re on Jesus’ team. Two teams exist: the devil’s and the Lord’s. People who ignore God and reject Jesus are on the devil’s team (the losing team). People who believe in Jesus and trust in Him for salvation are on God’s team (the winning team!). (To learn how to join God’s team, click here.)

As we watch the Olympics and encounter Michael Phelps hysteria, let’s use it as a way to bring God’s Word to life. I’m going to try to remember the following points and I hope you will, too.

1. Heaven’s audience remains most important. Heaven’s audience far surpasses the impressiveness of even the more than 2 billion people (a third of the earth’s population) who watched the Olympics Opening Ceremony. But did you realize that we have an awaiting audience in Heaven? Let’s start running like we know we’re watched by a crowd of cheerleaders.

“We are surrounded by a great cloud of people whose lives tell us what faith means. So let us run the race that is before us and never give up. We should remove from our lives anything that would get in the way and the sin that so easily holds us back.” (Hebrews 12:1, NCV)

2. Act and think like you’re God’s star player on His team. After all, we’re all equal in God’s sight and God doesn’t show favoritism. (Romans 2:11, NLT) Everyone is equal on His team. He loves us all the same and offers the same promises that He offered to Abraham, Moses, Paul, etc. Being on God’s team requires a marathon mentality. Our time on earth is like a short sprint compared to eternity. (But it feels like a marathon, right?) We need to pace ourselves and keep in step with God’s Spirit. Learn what He wants and listen to Him.

“Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” (Galatians 5:25, NCV)

3. In God’s Olympics, His “Top Ten” help us to perform well and have good spiritual health. The Ten Commandments help us to toss off the stupid, bad barbells from our backs and lose the weight of the sins that always harm our hearts. (The 10 Commandments provide a list of protective instructions from life. They come directly from God Himself. He wants to protect us from evil so He wants us to follow them. Review God’s “Top Ten” by clicking here.)

4. Throw your heavy worries to Jesus. He’ll catch them and carry them so that you’re not weighed down by the adverse effects of worry.

“Give all your worries to him, because he cares about you.” (I Peter 5:7, NCV)

5. God’s goodness never expires: He’ll keep us safe from fatal spiritual injury and deliver us to Heaven, the ultimate awards ceremony!

“Cast your burden on the Lord [releasing the weight of it] and He will sustain you; He will never allow the [consistently] righteous to be moved (made to slip, fall, or fail).” (Psalm 55:22, AMP)

6. Keep running and tune out the opposing team. As we run the race, expect some hecklers along the way. People on the opposing team (the devil’s) will try to make you think that God has forgotten you.

“Everyone who wants to live as God desires, in Christ Jesus, will be persecuted.” (2 Timothy 3:12, NCV)

7. The best of God’s rewards await God’s people. In Heaven, earth will seem like a distant, dirty experience utterly incomparable to God’s beauty and rewards system! Let’s remember what our Savior said about when we feel discouraged by persecution: “Be full of joy at that time, because you have a great reward in heaven.” (Luke 6:23, NCV)

As we watch the Olympics, let’s remember that we have a race to run and that we’ll get loaded with Heavenly rewards at God’s rewards ceremony. His rewards will far exceed our wildest imaginations and anything the earth offers!

Now, let’s go for the gold—God’s gold!

Note from the Author:
Connected! isn’t a typical monthly column. Think of it as an e-mail. Feel free to reply. Reply to: stacieruth@brightlightministry.com. Or add me to your "Friends" on Facebook. After all, I want to be a friend and introduce you to my Best Friend, Jesus Christ. We’ll cover issues relevant to our generation. Most of all, we’ll connect with Christ. If you don’t know how to connect with Him yet, click here.

As a Christian singer who, in her words, “counters the counter-culture,” Stacie Ruth Stoelting and Bright Light Ministry share how to have true victory over tragedies and trials. She loves Jesus! And she loves to help people. (She knows what it feels like to “wistfully wish for help.” That memory helps to ignite her passion to help others.) Though young, she already has experience: At 15, Stacie Ruth wrote Still Holding Hands: Bonus Tips for Caregivers & Tips for Helping Families Facing Alzheimer’s, depicting her grandparents’ romance, and victory over Alzheimer’s. Celebrities (i.e. Pat Robertson) endorsed it and/or Bright Light Ministry. At 20, she sang for President Bush. In dramatic programs for all ages, she speaks, acts, sings and entertainingly inspires. Feel free to invite her to speak and/or sing at your church or school. Visit www.brightlightministry.com.