I can answer anyone who taunts me, for I trust in your word.
—
Psalm 119:42
If they gave out medals for
Olympic viewing, I just might be a contender. It doesn’t matter that I’d never
watch a curling match or a skeleton competition under other circumstances; as
soon as I hear that unmistakable Olympic theme song, my pulse quickens, and
before I know it, I’m pulled into the drama of the Games. I admit to falling for
the shamelessly sappy back stories of young athletes overcoming injury, loss,
poverty, or other challenges on their way to the top. I watch the opening
ceremonies, long and drawn out though they may be, and on occasion, I even get
teary-eyed during some of those Tide commercials.
When I was a kid, I adored
watching the figure skaters and dreamed of having the grace and courage to do a
triple axle myself. In years when the Games were held in a different zone and
they showed the events on a time delay so they could air during prime time, the
results were already in by the time I watched. The medals had been distributed,
the appropriate anthem had been played, and the winners and losers had been
decided. I just didn’t know the outcome yet.
I’d sit on the edge of the couch,
desperately hoping that Tara Lipinski would nail her triple lutz combination or
that Michelle Kwan would land all seven of her jumps. My dad would tease me the
whole time, saying, “You know, I could make this a lot less painful and just tell
you who won.” Because here’s the thing: when you know how things are going to
end, the little things along the way seem a lot less scary.
When we follow Christ, there will
no doubt be people along the way try to knock us down, criticize us, or taunt
us, as the psalmist described. But we have an advantage our detractors don’t
have: we know how the story ends. We’ve read the last chapter of the book,
and—spoiler alert—God wins! As 1
Corinthians 15:57 says, “Thanks be to God! He
gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
We don’t need to be fearful or
defensive when we are mocked for our beliefs, because we are secure in God’s
promise of salvation.
Elisabeth Elliot, a missionary in
the 1950s, knew what it was like to face detractors. She studied Greek at
Wheaton College, with the goal of translating the Bible for people groups that
didn’t have God’s Word in their own language. As a single woman in her
twenties, she went to Ecuador to work with the Quichua people. A year later,
Jim Elliot went to the same area as a missionary, and they were married shortly
thereafter.
They worked together there,
serving the local tribes, but Jim had always dreamed of reaching a people group
that had never heard the gospel at all. When he heard about the Aucas (now
known as the Huaorani), he knew his calling. No Westerner had ever met someone from
the tribe without being killed, but Jim and his four missionary friends would
not be deterred. After reaching out to the tribe and making an initial friendly
contact with three of the members, the missionaries were speared to death.
Anyone would have understood if Elisabeth
had fled back to the United States in her grief. She had just lost her husband,
and she was left to raise her ten-month-old daughter alone. But she sensed that
God still had a plan for her in the jungles of Ecuador. After working with the
Quichua tribe for a couple of years, she met two Auca women who taught her the
language and customs of the Auca people. And in 1958, just two years after her
husband’s death, Elisabeth and her three-year-old daughter went to live with
the very people who had killed her husband.
So what motivated Elisabeth to keep
pressing on, despite persecution, despite hardship, despite extreme opposition?
She knew that even if it appears we are losing battles, God will ultimately win
the war. She had personally experienced the Lord’s unfailing salvation, and she
was willing to share that message at great risk to herself. We don’t need to
fear when we know how this story ends: God wins.
Have you ever faced criticism as a result of your faith? How does it
give you perspective to remember that in the end, God and his people are
victorious?
—Stephanie Rische
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