The Olympic Games

Our modern Olympic Games have a very ancient past; the historical written record pens 776BC as the first Olympics.  Obviously, mankind has held an extreme fascination with the human body since the dawn of time.  Who can run the fastest?  Who can jump the highest?  Who can throw the farthest? Who can lift the most?  And this fascination still continues today.  But as you watch the Olympic Games this year, I want to give you something infinitely more important to think about.

The Apostle Paul wrote: “For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto ALL things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come” (I Timothy 4:8).  Do you understand these words?  Do you know what “godliness” is?  Friend, God IS Love!  Thus, “godliness” is “love”.  And what is love?  It is defined by God’s Law – the 10 Love Commandments (10LC).  So “godliness” is revealed in someone who always desires and strives to “obey God’s 10LC” … they give and don’t steal, they forgive and don’t hate, they speak truth and don't lie, they are content and don’t covet, etc.  These things come out of one’s heart.  They are spiritual.  Consequently, Paul was saying, exercising your physical body might make you feel better right now, but exercising your spirit towards godliness has the reward of eternal life!

Paul was well aware of the Olympic Games, for they were still being held in Olympia, Greece in his day.  He also knew “obtaining eternal life” was like a competition, and often analogized it as such in his letters: “Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize?  So run, that ye may obtain” (I Corinthians 9:24), “fight the GOOD fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life” (I Timothy 6:12), and “I endure all things for the elect’s sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory” (II Timothy 2:10).

As you watch the world’s elite athletes push their physical bodies to the limit this year in London, England, all in an effort to win a physical medal, ponder your own ongoing spiritual race, fight, or endurance competition.  Are you striving to live godly on a daily basis by obeying God's 10LC?  Will you win the prize of eternal life?  "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin (10LC disobedience) which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross" (Hebrews 12:1-2)




Happy Sabbath,

Gabriel

Approximately 842 Weeks (Sabbaths) Remaining Till Christ's Return!