Worth Fighting For
I love listening to people’s life stories. I am often inspired by hearing how others overcome obstacles and achieve their goals. Hence when I watch the Olympics I’m as much interested in the athletes stories as their athletic abilities. I’ve never seen a story about an athlete who had an easy fairy tale like road to the Olympics. Every story though different is filled with both success and failure.
One common trait I notice in most of the athletes is the spirit of tenacity and perseverance. During the consecutive Olympics that I have watch I’ve seen athletes who struggled or made mistakes come back stronger and more determined four years later. They didn’t let their failures stop them from trying.
After the tears and disappointments what makes them determined to try again?
My guess would be that they think the prize is worth it. They decide that they wouldn’t focus on their failures but keep their eyes focused on the prize they want to achieve.
13…but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. Philippians 3:13-14(NLT)
Sometimes it’s easy to focus on our failures, to lose sight of the prize and give up. However, if the prize is important enough you’ll keep fighting for it. We all have the one thing that we consider to be “the prize.” But, the ultimate prize that we are fighting for is the heavenly prize which can only be attained through a relationship with Jesus Christ.
No matter what disappointments we may face, no matter how many times we fail, He still encourages us to forget those thing that are behind and press towards the prize. Due to circumstances beyond our control we may be forced to put or dreams on hold or regretfully decide to choose another dream. However, the heavenly prize is worth fighting for. The awesome thing about the heavenly prize is, there is no limits to how many people can achieve it.
24 Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! 25 All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. 1 Corinthians 9:24-25 (NLT)
There is no gold, silver and bronze, there is room for all of us and more…
Powerful message, Bernadine. I love the book of Philippians, and the passages you have shared are what keeps me going. 🙂