I remember as a teenager being inspired by the movie Chariots of Fire and the conviction shown by Eric Liddell, the brilliant Scottish athlete who refused to run in the heats of the Olympic 100m sprint because they were held on a Sunday. Liddell copped a fair bit of heat for being a runner when everyone around him had hoped that he would simply give his running away and go to be a missionary in China.
Yet Liddell had a bigger view of the world and of God than those around him. When those close to him simply wanted him to go and ‘do God’s work’, Liddell realised that ‘God’s work’ was right in front of him doing what he had been uniquely equipped to do. There is a beautiful line in the film where Liddell responds to a challenge from his sister Jenny to give up his running. He says:
“Jenny, God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast, and when I run I feel his pleasure.”
While Liddell inspired many with his athletic ability and his integrity of faith, perhaps what was missed was the fact that Eric Liddell was very much in touch with his sense of vocation – with who God had made him to be. He knew that when he was running he was more alive than at any other time. In those moments when he was sprinting he was ‘feeling God’s pleasure’.
That prompts a couple of questions for reflection that I will be speaking about in our church community. Eric Liddell said “God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast, and when I run I feel his pleasure.”
What greater purpose has God made you for?
What unique abilities and talents have you been given that when you use them cause you to feel most alive?
Henry David Thoreau said “Most men/women lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.”
What a tragedy for us and for the world it would be to ‘go to the grave with the song still inside’. So what’s ‘the song’ that is playing in your heart that needs to be expressed more fully, and why don’t you sing it out with great passion?
I am really tired of listening to people complain about their tedious, and sometimes vacuous lives because I believe there is a choice to live for something greater, but it comes at the cost of not living for the temporal and insignificant. The challenge is to listen to the voice of God that calls us to live purposefully rather than to submit to the voice of culture that tells us to take a number, fall in line and get on the treadmill.
It may even be that the two lives look the same at face value i.e. you may still work in the same job, but ‘under the bonnet’ changes will have occurred because you will be living with a sense of greater purpose and destiny.
You only get one crack at it so make it a good one!
Great post Hamo.
“I am really tired of listening to people complain about their tedious, and sometimes vacuous lives because I believe there is a choice to live for something greater, but it comes at the cost of not living for the temporal and insignificant.”
spot on.
A big Amen!
Loved that movie too and the great line in it.
Thanks for your posts. My name is Greg and we are really getting the idea of a missional church down in Melbourne. You guys are up in NSW yeh? Your articles are really insightful – I find myself skipping around to a lot of different blogs written by people with creative ideas about mission and yours is terrific. In regards to Chariots of fire, that’s not such an inspiration for me as when I was a teen ager, my dad made us watch the movie when our preferred choice of “Jaws” was playing on the other channel. Of course the message is great and I appreciate it more now. Thanks and God Bless, Greg from Bayswater.
Thanks Greg – we are actually in West Oz and yes there is a lot of good stuff going on in Victoria
“and when I run I feel his pleasure.” That is a great line. I often think of it, but I think of it when I’m doing what God wants me to be doing.
A few weeks ago, I felt God telling me to clean the streets near my home. This is not something I wanted to do and it took a couple of weeks to do to, but finally, one Sunday, at 6:30 in the morning I grab a broom, shovel, and a bucket and headed for the street. The job was much bigger than my bucket. I worked for over two hours, sweated gallons and got as dirty as a pig in slop, but I remember feeling God’s pleasure and even thinking of that line from Chariots of Fire.
It doesn’t happen all the time, but sometimes we get an “atta-boy” from the one who loves us. Maybe feeling God’s pleasure is more about being in the center of God’s will than just doing what we are good at. Eric had that experience because he was doing what God wanted him to do, run fast.
Hamo, thanks for your blog. I’ve enjoyed being challenged by what you write. Blessings, Byron (aka, that crazy Texan)
Hello
I work for the Eric Liddell Centre and we have lots of information about Eric Liddell on our web site:
Eric Liddell
Just click on “Eric Liddell” at the top of the page. We even have the real film of him winning the Olympic medal in 1924.