This talk is well worth a listen at http://s3.stmarks-battersea.org.uk/Audio/Sermon/2012-07-22_06.00pm.mp3, but if you don’t have time, here’s a short section to stir you up:

In the film, Chariots of Fire, there is a marked contrast between the two leading characters, Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddle. On one occasion, before a race, a friend says to Abrahams:

“I hate losing. How about you?”

Abrahams replies: “I don’t know, I’ve never lost.”

You see his drive for recognition and his deep sense of insecurity. Then there is the contrast, having already lost the 200m, as he is now faced with the 100m, and he says to the same friend:

“I’m forever in pursuit and I don’t even know what I’m chasing. You know, I used to be afraid to lose. Now I’m afraid to win. Because I only have 10 lonely seconds to justify my existence. And even then I’m sot sure I will.”

He does win and in record time, but he goes away as the loneliest man, huge sense of despondency. He thought he’d accomplished what would bring meaning but it let him down.

Liddle, on the other hand, ran with a terrible style, arms and legs all over the place. He was about to run the 400m, and there is a flashback to a conversation with his sister. She wants to get him off to the missionary field, and thinks he is too caught up in this running thing.

“Eric, when are you going to stop?”

“Jenny, Jenny, God has made me for a purpose – for China. But he’s also made me fast, and when I run I feel His pleasure. To not run would be to hold Him in contempt.”

Wow, I love that line! That’s life and worship beautifully understood and integrated. Thank God we don’t have just 10 lonely seconds to justify our existence, He already fully justified us!