Virtue: Intentionality
Resolution: I choose to be mindful and responsive to God’s presence and the needs of others.
Human Story: Eric Liddell (1902-1945)
Thanks to the movie Chariots of Fire, Eric Liddell is known for being an Olympic champion. But there is much more to his story than forfeiting his best chance at victory because he would not compete on Sunday. Born in Tientsin, China to Scottish missionaries, Eric Liddell and his older brother left China at ages 6 and 8 respectively to attend boarding school in Britain. By the time Eric was eight or nine, he had already planned to return to Asia. While in school, however, Eric found that he was a good athlete, a very good athlete, and soon he was competing in both track and rugby for not only his school but also his country.
At a young age Eric’s father taught him that “winning a medal isn’t that important. What matters is how you run the race of life.” Eric never lost sight of that whether he was competing or ministering to others. Before every competition, Eric would shake each athlete’s hand and wish him well, and he truly meant what he said.
When Eric began competing for Edinburgh University and was assigned an athletic trainer, he wrote in a letter:
The exercises seemed unimportant at first, but later one finds out how useful they have been. He [his trainer] took me in hand, pounded me about like a piece of putty, pushed this muscle this way and that muscle the other way, in order, as he said, to get me into shape. Training is not the easiest thing to do. It is liable to become monotonous.
The results of Eric’s “monotonous” exercises ultimately won for him gold and bronze medals at the 1924 Paris Olympics. But because of his devotion to God, he refused to participate in his best event as well as several relay races because he would have had to run on Sunday (Sabbath). Even though he gave up the chance to compete in additional races, he was lauded throughout Europe, Britain, and especially Scotland and China, both of which credit Eric as their first Olympic champion.
Photo credit: https://www.ericliddell.org/
It is Eric’s faith, devotion, and humility, though, that set him apart from most other famous people. After graduating from Edinburgh University, he did return to China as planned since childhood and ministered to countless people in that vast land despite political unrest due to civil war, Japanese aggression, and world war. In his book titled Manual of Christian Discipleship, Eric shared six questions he would ask himself each morning as part of his exercises of “daily morning quiet.” Rather than becoming monotonous like his physical exercises, these gave him the courage and strength to face the ever-changing landscape of life in China with boldness and peace, even during his time in the Weixian Internment Camp where he died at age 43. The Challenge section below shows Eric’s six questions. May they challenge you to consider whether your daily discipline could use an adjustment.
Reference: Eric Liddell, Olympian and Missionary by Ellen Caughey
Lesson: 1 Samuel 2:30
…Those who honor me I will honor…
One of Eric Liddell’s Olympic trainers game him a folded note just prior to Eric’s first heat of the Games: “In the Old Book it says, ‘He that honors me, I will honor.’ Wishing you the best of success always.”
There are two lessons to be learned from this brief story. The first is to consider how we honor God. Jesus says it is through doing what we are commanded; and his commands to us were to love God and to love our neighbor. Eric demonstrated both these commands throughout his life, but he could only do so because he was disciplined to keep before him the word of God and to listen for God’s specific direction through prayer.
The second, and a bit more obscure, lesson is found in the action of the trainer who was prompted by God to encourage Eric before his race. There are times when God wants each of us to speak encouragement into someone else’s life. Are you listening to God well enough to hear His promptings?
Remembrance
The duty of a faithful missionary is to concentrate on keeping his soul completely and continually open to the nature of the Lord Jesus Christ. The men and women our Lord sends out on His endeavors are ordinary human people, but people who are controlled by their devotion to Him, which has been brought about through the work of the Holy Spirit. -- Oswald Chambers
Challenge
Listen as you read the challenge: Chariots of Fire
Eric Liddell asked himself the following six questions each morning. Write down these questions and ask them to yourself each morning this week. At the end of the week, reflect on how this discipline has made a difference in your life these seven days.
Have I surrendered this new day to God, and will I seek and obey the guidance of the Holy Spirit through its hours?
What have I specially to thank God for this morning?
Is there any sin in my life for which I should seek Christ’s forgiveness and cleansing? Is there any apology or restitution to make?
For whom does God want me to pray this morning?
What bearing does this morning’s Bible passage have on my life, and what does He want me to do about it?
What does God want me to do today and how does he want me to do it?
Reflection
It has been a wonderful experience to compete in the Olympic Games and to bring home a gold medal. But since I have been a young lad, I have had my eyes on a different prize. You see, each one of us is in a greater race than any I have run in Paris, and this race ends when God gives out the medals. – Eric Liddell
Further Growth
2022
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2021
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2020
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