I’ve hesitated to respond regarding the opening at the Paris Olympics. I’ve gone through a myriad of emotions, from anger to sadness. I need to remember we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Yet God is good and always loving and continues reaching out to the lost through the nail-scarred hands of His Son, Jesus Christ. God calls people to come to His pure, holy, awesome, eternal love and grace.
Instead of complaining and grumbling about the evil around me, I need to share the good news that Jesus Christ died for a sinful world. I need to tell others about the joy Christ brings through His forgiveness, grace, and mercy. I also want to share with others what Jesus Christ has done for me, saving, cleansing, and making me His child, and how He can do the same for anyone who calls on His name.
For those who don’t know Christ as Savior, please “repent [change your inner self—your old way of thinking, regret past sins] and return [to God—seek His purpose for your life], so that your sins may be wiped away [blotted out, completely erased], so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord [restoring you like a cool wind on a hot day. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” (Acts 3:19-20, AMP, John 3:16-17, ESV).
For those who know Christ as Savior, focus on Jesus, run your race you’ve been called to run and share the good news. “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.” Therefore, “lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.” And let’s do as Jesus said: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Hebrews 12:1-3, 1 Corinthians 9:24-25, Matthew 28:19-20, ESV).
