Intersections: Where Faith Meets Life – by Bob Weathers

Of all the games played, races run, and heats swam at the Summer Olympics, few had a backstory as enriching and defining as the men’s tennis singles gold medal match.

Weathers

For Andy Murray, the Scotsman favored by the UK crowd, it must have seemed like an eerie case of d?j? vu. He had battled through the matches to reach this moment, and now stood on the same court at the All England Club where he had been just one month before for the Wimbledon Championship. And not only the same court, but the same opponent, Roger Federer, whose expertise has earned him accolades as, perhaps, the greatest player to have ever swung a racket.

And on that fateful day just one month earlier, Federer had beaten Murray, reducing the heartbroken young man to tears in his regret that he had let down his home country. The crowd wept with him, but cheered his effort.

As Murray stepped onto the court on Aug. 5, I wonder if he took a breath and smiled at the irony. Here he was again. Same crowd. Same court. Same opponent.

But a vastly different result. Murray not only won the gold medal, he dominated the Swiss athlete and stunned everyone with his exceptional level of play.

But then, that’s what champions do. True champions operate by a simple principle that defines every stroke, every swing, every point: Never let past losses dictate present performance.

It can turn the game around, decide a different outcome than the past. Sadly, we rarely apply this same principle to our lives. So we falter in the face of sin, convinced we can do no better than before.

Paul, writing from prison and reflecting on his own salvation, wrote, “One thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14).

So there it is. The heart of the gospel. The declaration of grace and forgiveness that comes in Christ. Never let past failures and sins dictate your present performance. And when you face off against that same sin again, that same temptation? Stand firm. Move forward. Press on for the future.