If your home is like my home…you’ve had your television tuned to
the Olympics pretty much every day recently.
The athletes just amaze me. Their
determination and drive are so inspiring.
What we get to see is the culmination of days, weeks, months and
years of blood, sweat and tears to get them to this competition. They didn’t just wake up one day at the
beginning of the summer and decide it would be fun to go to the Olympics. This has been their goal for the majority of
their lives and they have sacrificed greatly to qualify in their sport.
Where would they be today if they would have given up when the
going got tough? What if they would have
decided when they had injuries that it was just too much pain to endure to get
healthy enough to return to their sport?
What if they would have made the choice to just play video games and
sleep in every morning, instead of getting up early to begin their training
each day?
Of course I think we all know the answers. If they would have done just one of the
things I listed…they would be home watching the Olympics from the couch like
you and I have been. They would have
missed out on achieving their dreams because they decided it wasn’t worth the
sacrifice.
I’m guessing if you asked them today if every sacrifice they
made was worth it…they would say it was.
Every bit of pain, every missed party, every hour of lost sleep…was
worth it as they now are receiving the prizes they’ve worked so hard to attain.
What about you and me?
Most of us will never compete in the Olympics, but we all have dreams
that we would love to see come to fruition.
The question then becomes…are we willing to sacrifice to see them happen
or will we give up when things get too hard?
I’m confident that God has called all of us to do great things
for Him and that is where our focus needs to be. We know that the journey to accomplish those
things may not be easy. It may require
us to sacrifice blood, sweat and tears to achieve the goals and dreams that He
has placed before us. I’m sure there
will be times when we want to give up…when we feel that we just have to give
too much or give up too much to fulfill His plan. Satan wants nothing more than to see us stop
short of receiving God’s blessings. If
he can get us so discouraged and frustrated that we resort to just sitting on
the sidelines…he knows it will keep us from being effective for God.
We need to remember that any sacrifice that we have to make WILL
be worth it all. God’s plan is always perfect
and the rewards He has waiting for us will be worth way more than a gold
medal. The awards ceremony at the
Olympics won’t hold a candle to the banquet that God will prepare for us when
we have completed His will for our life.
Oh what a day that will be and I’m guessing we will then say, “Oh
my…this is worth every sacrifice I made to follow His plan!”
“God can do anything, you know—far more
than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does
it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and
gently within us.”
Ephesians 3:20 (The Message)
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