Running Like Usain Bolt

The Jamaican sprinter, Usain Bolt's recent performance in the Olympic 100M final was burned into my memory as I watched the Olympic coverage late one night. I was immediately nudging my sister--my bride, who was reading a book, about what I had just witnessed. I was flabbergasted that he had thrown his arms out, in essence putting out air brakes, before he ever crossed the finish line. I kept telling her that he could have run that even faster. In the end it was the fastest man in the world celebrating before the race had even ended, as if he knew he'd already won.

That image creeped back into the forefront of my thoughts during Saturday night as we discussed Philippians 3:14 in the context of Hebrews 11:1-16 which had been the sermon text during the worship we had just attended. The gist of the topic is well summarized in Hebrews 11:13 (NIV) "All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance"
The Philippians verse reads: "I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. "

So we are talking about focus, about running the race and keeping our eyes on the ultimate prize. That is when Usain Bolt's image popped into my mind. We've already won the race and yet we are still running. (see my Grow Up! devotion from two weeks ago) So like Bolt, it is okay to throw our arms out wide. But as the Body of Christ, we throw our arms out wide to help those beside us along their way as well. One of the best ways to stay focused on the prize is to serve God by serving others, helping them to focus as well. If we are helping others along the path, that means we are on it ourselves and also, we are likely to find help staying on it from our fellow travellers.

The Body of Christ then can run like Usain Bolt, celebrating long before the finish because we know we've already won and throwing out our arms wide to gather in as many other travellers as we can along the way.