In much of my life, I felt like I needed to balance two different people. On the track, I needed to care only about being successful, while in my relationship with Andre, I needed to be willing to sacrifice for him. When competing, my objective was to depart others in my wake, but while I used to be with my family, I used to be called to place them before myself. And to succeed as an expert track athlete, I needed to be aggressive, a killer competitor. Yet off the track, I desired to be humble, gentle, and sort. The Bible talks about having a meek and mild spirit, which 1 Peter 3:4 says is precious within the sight of God. That sounded great. Problem was, how do you try this one minute, then the following want nothing greater than to be the very best on this planet and destroy everyone you compete against? When I became a Christian, I knew I desired to stop living like a “double- minded man” (or woman, on this case), as James 1:8 describes. That form of inconsistency between my thoughts and behavior didn’t honor God and, to be honest, was exhausting to live with.
Fortunately, I didn’t must figure all this out by myself. Now there have been other believers in my life I could turn to. Between the NFL Bible study Andre had invited me to just a few months earlier and one other Bible study Andre began individually, there was loads of counsel to listen to from (Proverbs 15:22). Andre and I spent hours talking through my internal dilemma. Through those conversations, I started to comprehend that I didn’t must live with my version of a split personality: a sort, soft- spoken, humble- minded person off the track and a killer competitor on it. Both were consistent with the Christian life.
How? The reason starts with a fundamental truth about my newfound identity. As a Christian, I now existed to glorify God (1 Corinthians 6:19–20; Matthew 5:16). At the start of 2021, I used to be learning all of the ways my life wasn’t about me. It was about showing the world God’s power, wisdom, kindness, love, and forgiveness. There were a bunch of alternative ways to do this. Off the track, I could try this by serving others, putting their needs before mine, and being excited when God did a remarkable work of their lives (Philippians 2:3–4). On the track, I glorified God by running with all my mind and body. I honored him once I gave every scrap of energy I needed to the duty at hand. Because this was the gift God gave me to make use of, and by utilizing it to the very best of my ability and humbly redirecting the eye to him, he could be glorified.
I started to resonate with the famous words from the movie Chariots of Fire, which tells the story of Eric Liddell, a Christian sprinter and missionary: “God made me fast. And once I run, I feel his pleasure.” That’s an incredible thought. He takes pleasure in us doing what we were made for. And win, lose, or draw, to run the race well is to glorify him.
Far Beyond Gold: Running from Fear to Faith by Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone available here: https://www.amazon.com/Far-Beyond-Gold-Running-Faith/dp/0785297995
Excerpt taken from Far Beyond Gold: Running from Fear to Faith. Published by W. Publishing Group. An Imprint of Thomas Nelson. Copyright 2024. Used with permission.
Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/Julian Finney / Staff
