Sabbath Devotional :: Faster, Higher, Stronger — Together in Christ

With global eyes on the Olympics this week, and the announcement that the Church has been officially welcomed into Azerbaijan, I have been thinking about Jesus’ great commission to send the gospel into all the world, and our own efforts to run the race of life.

Throughout history, humans have arbitrarily created geopolitical borders and divided our DNA into ethnicities, races, and tribes. We also make up rules about games and physical achievements. These distinctions often divide us. Yet seeing world athletes float down the Seine and cheer each other on through competition makes it feel like we’re a small world after all. The gospel message is likewise for everyone, and brings us together in unity with Christ. As Nephi prophesied: “the Lord God shall commence his work among all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people” (2 Nephi 30:8). And we look forward to Zion with no manner of “-ites,” being “in one, the children of Christ, and heirs to the kingdom of God (4 Nephi 1:17).

Several years ago, I was teaching early-morning seminary when President Nelson challenged the youth to help gather Israel by “praying daily that all of God’s children might receive the blessings of the gospel of Jesus Christ.” Our seminary class took this charge seriously and made a list of all the countries in the world where the church was not yet recognized/allowed. Each day of class we learned about one of these countries, where they were located, and prayed for them (and added stickers to our globe pictured). During that year, both Kuwait and Mali opened their doors to official church recognition, and our class rejoiced that their prayers had been heard. As we cheer our various teams, above all, we want to be Team Jesus.

I see gospel resonances in individual activities as well as the global Games. In my much more limited athletic endeavors, I enjoy a deep water aerobics class each summer at my local swimming pool. Several times a week, more than forty participants of various ages, fitness levels, and health conditions endeavor to follow our leader’s instructions. Class is an hour long, including a five minute warm up and cool down time. We strive for agility, balance, coordination, flexibility, endurance, and strength — and succeed to varying degrees. Sometimes we spend class time doing intervals, where we aim for stamina and anaerobic conditioning. Other times, we do choreographed fitness routines where intensity levels vary.

The other day, our teacher announced, “You’re halfway through! Push it, you’re at your peak intensity right now!” I reflected that I, too, am (at least) halfway through life, as I turn fifty next month. I had a warm up childhood, time spent adjusting and learning skills. I will hopefully have a cool down period at the end, but life may end early due to circumstances beyond my control — as class sometimes does for thunderstorms or health emergencies. But by midpoint, I have learned the routines to do in a set amount of time, and I can improve their execution at sometimes breathless, peak intensity. Our most challenging routines may involve relationship interactions, spiritual seeking, emotional stamina, or logistical difficulties, but in mid-life sometimes we barely keep our head above water as we strive to follow our Leader. Even when you know the choreography, as time goes on the challenge is more intense just because you’ve been treading water that much longer. The Lord promises, however: “And inasmuch as ye are humble and faithful and call upon my name, behold, I will give you the victory” (D&C 104:82).

Despite my aqua efforts, I, like most of us, will never be an Olympic athlete. Beyond the physical games, though, we have Olympians among us in every dimension. Do you know someone who is on a gold-medal ministering team? A champion listener? A surprise pommel horse hero? The idea of Olympians goes back to the Greek deities on Mount Olympus — and in reality we are all deities in training. As C.S. Lewis so profoundly stated in The Weight of Glory: “It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship. . . . It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all of our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations — these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit — immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.”

The Olympics have millions of viewers, and a handful of champions. However, we can all be champions through Jesus. We, too, are watched and cheered on by those around us, and by generations to come. Our torch has arrived, and we are carrying the light of Christ. He is our eternal Judge who recognizes the high degrees of difficulty in the routines we attempt, as well as the handicaps and disabilities we bring to and are given in the competition of life. Fortunately, we have the best Coach to guide us, and an eternal glory to anticipate as the penalties for our mistakes are washed away. “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin 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, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:1-2).