“And now we bring you the games of the 19th Olympiad!”

Worldwide attention has recently been focused on the various competitive events taking place in China — the Olympics! Whether or not you have watched the Olympics, one fact almost certainly has struck you. The people who reach the Olympics as competitors have spent much of their lives in intense training for their sport. They have had a goal in mind and have given a tremendous amount of their time, energy and lives in striving to reach that goal.

A college I attended in preparation for the ministry had a statue near the gymnasium. It was a statue of a “sprinter on his marks.” In other words, it was a racer knelt down ready to begin a race. The inscription reads, “But one receiveth the prize, bear then in mind that in faithful effort alone true victory lies.”

This is a good thing for all of us to keep in mind as we strive for the goals of our lives. We may or may not reach the exact goal we have in mind. (Not everyone who wants to be governor, president, movie star, business owner, nurse, accountant, etc. will accomplish that.) But, if we have been faithful in our efforts to reach that goal, that has a success in itself. It is within faithful effort that the “true victory lies.”

In the Bible God talks about training for and running in a race. Through the Apostle Paul, God mentions, “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.” (I Corinthians 9:24-25 NIV)

God here uses an earthly example to teach a spiritual principle. In this world people go into strict training to get a prize that eventually will rust, be stolen, be lost, be thrown away or some other such thing. It is a temporary prize. Yet look at the effort they put into gaining it!

God reminds us that there is another prize that does not fade away, but that lasts forever! This “prize” is the “crown of righteousness” which Paul mentions will be given to the believer in Jesus as full savior from sin. We find this in II Timothy 4:8, “Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day — and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”

In this spiritual “race of our life” there is not just one winner. Everyone can be victorious, by faith in Jesus Christ as your savior from sin. Every one of us is in this race — whether we want to be or not! At the end of our life, each of us will be directed to one of two places, heaven or hell. We will each have either won or lost and the results will last forever. We hear in Hebrews 9:27, “Man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment.”

There are no second chances, there are no buy-offs, there are no excuses, there is no begging your way out. And the decision is not based on wealth, power, position in life, fame, ancestry, friendships or any other earthly standard.

The only standard for success or failure in this race is belief or unbelief in the true Triune God — Father, Son and Holy Spirit — and in Jesus Christ as your complete savior from sin. The Bible informs us, “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” (Mark 16:16 NIV) It also tells us, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.”

What shocks me time and time again is how small a value people place on their eternal salvation and how little effort they put into their faith. If some people put as much effort into their spiritual lives as they do into taking care of their pet, enjoying camping, playing sports, developing friendships, seeking forms of entertainment or other things, they would reach heaven. But they do these other things with a passion and then totally neglect their faith and end up in hell. If the Olympian athletes put this much effort into their sport, they wouldn’t even qualify at the local level.

How does one gain the victory spiritually? Spend time with God. Not just walking in the woods, fishing or in mediation, but in his word. It is by the word of God, the Bible, the Gospel (Good News) of Jesus as your savior that God begins and continues faith in us. We actually cannot even get it ourselves. It has to be given to us by God as a gift. That’s what the Bible says. And God gives that gift of faith through his word — the message of him our God and Jesus our savior.

When we have that saving faith from God, then the spiritual victory is ours! It is the “prize” won for us by Jesus by his perfect life and by his death on the cross. May God bless you also with the prize that is vastly more valuable than even an Olympic gold medal. May he give you the crown of righteousness in eternal life!

Now do what God tells you to do! Go for the gold! Reach for his word and use it again and again!