What Competition Has Taught Me About Faith

What Competition Has Taught Me About Faith

It is interesting how many things in life teach you lessons that are transferable to various aspects of living.  We learn things at home, school or work that are universal and apply in each setting.  Any Christian worth their salt would tell you the things that we learn as we grow spiritually ought to transfer into all other areas of life.  What we fail to realize is that there are things we learn outside the faith that help us in our spiritual journey as well.  I have a few thoughts that have helped me in my spiritual life and ministry, things I learned through competitive endeavors that you may benefit from as well.  

There are many ways to do the same thing! 

Ever watch golf?  There are many players who have “textbook” swings, but there are also a lot of players who have such a horrible swinging motion that when the ball goes straight it is quite an astonishing surprise.  In any competitive activity, there are always a number of different techniques or schools of thought, and there are people in the various camps who achieve world-class results.  The point is simply that there is usually more than one way to accomplish the same goal.  

This is true in athletics, academics, and our spiritual journey as well.  While hard work is always in the equation, athletes prepare and compete in ways that are unique to them.  While a thorough knowledge of the subject matter is imperative, different students learn differently.  While a life-transforming knowledge of the one true God through His Son Jesus Christ is a must, people experience God and grow spiritually through a number of equally viable means.  
   

There is no excuse for proper preparation!

I am not sure if you have ever attempted to do anything that is beyond your physical ability, but when I do, things are not pretty!  Anytime I go hiking with my portly friends and feel as though I am going to die after climbing my first hill under the weight of my very full pack, I know that I should have been better prepared.  I have been riding my mountain bike lately, and as the miles pass and the hills get tougher and my legs and lungs feel like failing, I wonder why I didn’t do more cardio at the gym this past winter.  

I suppose these things are all right in that I am working myself into shape, but what if I was competing in a bike race?  I would look life a fool!  Even more, what if I was hiking in to rescue someone who was in desperate need of attention?  My lack of preparation and conditioning could cost someone their life!  The bottom line is that anytime the other team is better prepared, our team loses.  Spiritually, if we are not prepared to be intentional and share with others about God, if we are not growing spiritually, our words are empty, our lives our without God’s power, and God’s team loses! 

There are times when you want to quit!

I remember running track my first year of high school.  I was a long distance specialist and ran everything a half mile and longer.  Due to a knee injury earlier that year that I had not fully recovered from, my ability was somewhat deteriorated.  In these longer events, to save some time they would run the male and female race together.  In my first race after the injury, I was so slow that every other runner of both sexes passed me!  I was only able to keep pace with the slowest runner and managed enough speed at the very end to pass her and come in second to last.  This was not a victory of any kind and I would be lying if I didn’t say that at that moment, (and some others during various competitions) I wanted to quit!  I was experiencing so much pain and getting beaten so badly that I almost lost the will to finish. 

Sometimes in the church people pretend that believing in Jesus smooths out the bumps and makes everything in life rosy.  While Jesus may help us to bear the bumps, at least in my life those troubles still seem to exist in excess.  Just like in competition, a life of faith has its own unique set of struggles, difficulties and challenges.  Many come to places in their spiritual journey where they want to do nothing more than quit.  If we were all honest, there have been times like this for each of us and in many areas of life.  It is troubling as we, at times, see people taking this to the next stage, actually throwing in the towel.  If you have never wanted to quit, you may not be human.  The key is to keep the faith and finish well. I know that we pull through in the tough times because of our faith and because of what we have come to know of God and his faithfulness to us.  It also seems true, though, that if we are afforded the opportunity to live for God in ways that are consistent with Him and with us, and if we make sure we are prepared, then when the difficult times visit, we are all the more likely to succeed!   

Pastor Rob Paterson