I turn it on in the morning, stay up late at night, soak in and cry over the personal stories of the athletes, yell at the tv, and cheer loudly as though they can hear...as if the event I am watching didn't already happen 8 hours prior!
In a nut shell, I love everything Olympics related.
Maybe it's my fascination with the strength, talent and overall accomplishments of the athletes, or maybe it's the heavy dose of patriotism that the Olympics brings.
Whatever it is, it sparks something in me to make me want to do more and to be more...more than wherever I am.
It makes me want to remove the limits, those secure boundaries I place around myself...usually to simply avoid failure.
But then the inevitable question arises: How?
How do you attain those goals that obliterate your comfort zones?
After an amazing track and field event gold medal win, a commentator asked an Olympian that very question:
"How did you do this when no one thought you could?"
The key word of his response jumped out at me like a word highlighted on a page:
Diligence.
Diligence is(according to Dictionary.com) :
constant and earnest effort to accomplish what is undertaken. Persistent exertion of body or mind.
Some synonyms include:
activity, alertness, application, attention, care, constancy, intensity, vigor.
Am I naive to think that's all it took? No.
Do I believe that each and every day he loved doing all that had to be done? No.
Was it easy? No.
Was it critical to his finish? Yes!
He may have had natural ability that made his sport the perfect match for him, but without Diligence, it's just untapped potential.
How much I can learn from this Olympian in my walk with the Lord.
It's about more than studying sport technique, learning methods, theories and strategies on paper.
Head knowledge would have no more made that runner an athlete than reading anatomy books would make me a doctor!
Knowledge is simply the beginning.
Desire is simply the beginning.
Dreams of turning potential into reality cannot be accomplished without DILIGENCE.
Matthew 7:14, The Message says:
"The way to life-to God!-is vigorous and requires total attention."
As Grace rescued Believers, we can rest assured He placed within each one of us the potential to be a Glory-to-God-Giver of gold medal proportions.
He did it through the person of the Holy Spirit...alive inside of us!
But it is surrendering to Him and the total attention it takes as an Olympian of His Kingdom that results in the radical transformation bringing world record finishes that impact lives forever.
Constant, earnest effort.
Consistent, active, alert, intense, vigorous.
Does this describe the way you and I go after the goal of living out loud with excellence for Jesus Christ?
Don't settle for latent potential.
Allow the Holy Spirit to UNLEASH the fullness of His power in you!
Let His spark ignite the fire within you to be more...not in YOUR power, but through HIS!
Bronze?
Silver?
I think not.
I am living FROM victory assured.
Gold medal all the way, baby!
"But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us." 2 Corinthians 4:7 ESV
"And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength."
Mark 12:30 ESV
"God's way is not a matter of mere talk; it's an empowered life."
1 Corinthians 4:20 MSG
"He must increase, I must decrease."
John 3:30 ESV
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