Gold Medals

Today’s Reading: Genesis 39:11-42:17

I’m on an Olympics kick this week, anybody else there with me? It’s so exciting to see these athletes represent our country by doing something that most of us would never even dream of being able to do. I mean, I was in gymnastics when I was in elementary school, but I could never do a back handspring on the balance beam or fly from one uneven bar to another. Yet here we’re watching these girls almost half my age, do just that and much more!

Earlier this week I watched the women’s gymnastics team win the gold medal; which was very exciting. I watched as the last Russian gymnast missed an element in her tumbling pass. The weight of that possible gold medal for her team and her country was so heavy on her shoulders that her poor little feet couldn’t hold it all up. So while the Russian team held back their disappointed sobs the American team was holding back their grins. The Americans then went on to do something I pray that I never forget. Because the pressure of needing to be perfect broke the Russians chances at gold, that same pressure was now off the American shoulders as well. They no longer had to be perfect in their routines, so those girls went out there and just had FUN; which resulted in nearly perfect performances.

Yesterday I talked about how looking to Jesus made shaking the “cling-ons” off my shoulders so much easier. This story is the perfect example of how that works. You see, Jesus has already won the gold medal for us. He was the perfect sacrifice so that we don’t have to be. Because He went through every day perfectly sinless, we don’t have to. All we have to do is go out there and have fun. Now, I need to make sure that you understand here that “fun” doesn’t include murder, or adultery or anything crazy like that. I’m simply saying that we don’t need to concern ourselves with being perfect. There is no way that we can be perfectly sinless, believe me I’ve almost killed myself trying. But that’s OK because we don’t have to be. There are going to be times when we fall short of the glory of God, like every day, and that’s OK, because we have been justified by His grace as a GIFT. The Enemy wants us to focus on the falling short part and make us completely miss the FACT that we HAVE BEEN justified. (Not are being, have been justified.) He wants us to forget that we’ve already won the gold and that all we have to do is go out and have fun in the performance of a lifetime.

The weight of your sins (past present and future) was taken off your shoulders and placed on Jesus at the cross. You no longer bear even a hint of that sin, so go out there and dance like you’ve already won the gold medal… because He has already won it for you.