10/14/19 Dimitri (see HERE)
He came from halfway around the world, from Moscow, Russia,
to run in the Chicago Marathon. He has
also run in other world-class marathons, including Munich, Germany. Dimitri is a runner who takes his sport
seriously, and I was impressed at his composure when I talked with him just
hours after finishing Chicago’s marathon.
I have thanked God for the gift of athletics and fr In sports we learn the value of hard work and
discipline and consequences, we gain confidence and self-esteem, and we are
inevitably humbled as our accomplishments fade into obscurity. But we can take the lessons learned in sports
and apply them to our spiritual life, an even greater gift.
iendly competition ever since I was a wrestler in high school.
I remember preparing for the state wrestling tournament, one
of only two wrestlers in my high school who made it that far, and it was hard
to keep perspective with all the attention I was getting from my small town. I wanted to hear from God, and leafed through
my Bible and allowed my finger to fall on a random verse that I took to be a miraculous
sign. It was 1 Corinthians 9:24 – “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.”
I was shocked when I read it, and wondered if it might mean
that God would give me favor in the upcoming tournament. At least I was sure that I should give it my
best effort and I did, only to lose my first match and get eliminated from the
tournament. Only then did I really bother
to read the rest of the passage – “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.”
(9:25)
Paul was comparing the effort put into sports with the
effort Christians should put into serving God.
Ours has eternal significance, which is why I was reaching out with the
gospel and began that conversation with Dimitri. He puts so much into training and traveling
for his chosen sport, and he proudly wore his finishers medal around his
neck. But how much more it could mean
were he to put that kind of dedication and discipline into his relationship
with God?
Dimitri told me he thought there was somewhat of a Christian
revival happening back in his Russian homeland, though his understanding of the
Gospel and what it means to be a Christian were quite limited. But still, its exciting to think that God may
be doing a huge work in Russia after so many years of atheist/communist rule,
and that Dimitri might be a part of that, bringing the Gospel I shared with him
back to his home country and sharing the way it was meant to be shared.
But it won’t be easy, because, as is so often the case, we
need to keep reading further in our Bibles.
1 Corinthians 9:26-27 goes on to tell us of the incredible discipline
required to take the gospel to the nations: “Therefore I do not run like
someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I
strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to
others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.”
Where could someone get that sort of discipline? Maybe Dimitri’s hours and weeks and months of
discipline and training for the marathon might just have eternal significance
after all.
Thanks, Dimitri, for taking the time and allowing me to
record our conversation! It is HERE at https://youtu.be/_i-QQqdTpNs
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