Your daily Olympic devotional
A snippet from a new sports devotional, The Spirit of Victory. Available through your favourite bookstore.
Sport is Life: The Olympics begins
“For the sake of My Holy Name” Ezekiel 36:22
All parts of life, including sport, are for God’s glory. There is no dualism of a secular and sacred. Jesus is Lord over Saturday sport, as He is Sunday church. The Apostle Paul talked about sport and the Isthmian Games in a way that reflected this theology that all of life is for God’s Holy Name. As a result, God is interested in sport and the Olympics because, wherever people are, God is interested! And the Olympics provides so many opportunities to reveal His glory.
Dutch pastor and politician, Abraham Kuyper’s famous quote, summarizes the Gospel’s reach:
“There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, Mine!”
This includes athletes in the Games Village meeting for regular Bible study and prayer, to regular worship services in the Village’s Religious Services Centre, to community outreach by churches around Tokyo, to the world community exploring the gospel themes of sin, sacrifice, grace and victory as reflected in sport. What we will see in Tokyo is a God-given opportunity, as the Westminster Catechism says, worship God and enjoy Him forever.
The Games allow us to do what the Bible does often: to transpose the temporary struggles and training we see in sport to a spiritual level. Over the next 14 days you will get extracts of a new devotional book that uses the Olympics to point to Jesus. The complete more detailed devotionals in The Spirit of Victory, is available at bookstores, and is an excellent gift for any sports fans who want to know more about Jesus. It is also a great resource for Christians wanting to be challenged to grow in their faith by seeing how God uses themes we see in sport to reveal Himself.