The recent Olympics in Rio have shown us great sporting highs and lows: the ecstacy of winning medals, when years of training, hard work, dedication and discipline seem to melt away in joy and the lows of missing medals, when it feels like nothing makes sense and all that hard work and dedication count for nothing.
‘Team GB’ has done exceptionally well in Rio, with veterans like Mo Farah retaining his gold-medal status in the 5000m and 10,000m and the Yorkshire Brownlee brothers claiming gold and silver in the triathlon.
‘Newcomers’ Jack Laugher and Chris Mears won GB’s first ever diving gold medal in the 3 metre synchronised springboard event. But for every triumph, there is disappointment for other competitors: Tom Daley failing to qualify for the 10m diving final, Jessica Ennis-Hill ‘only’ winning a silver medal in the heptathlon, for example. Sport highlights these ‘highs’ and ‘lows’ because of its focus on winners, which inevitably means there are also losers.
At the same time as the Olympics have been going on, ‘A’ level results came out this past week, with GCSE results due next Thursday. Thousands of teenagers feel that these results have the power to determine their immediate futures: which university they will go to, which course they will study, which job they will be able to pursue. For some, there is the ‘high’ of success; for others, there is the disappointment of ‘failure’ (though again, it is alarming to see how success and failure can be determined or defined.)
Maintaining perspective in the midst of all the highs and lows of life can be extremely difficult. We are conditioned to believe that hard work and determination will be rewarded by success: how, then, do we cope when we have given it our all and still not received the prize? How do we retain a sense of self-worth when we have not lived up to the standards we have set ourselves? How do we avoid arrogance and pride when we do achieve success?
- We have to know that our identity is in Christ, not in our achievements, successes or failures. Rom 8:35-39 reminds us that nothing can separate us from the love of God that is found in Christ. If Christ was willing to die for us while we were still sinners (i.e. still ‘failures’), we can be sure that no failure can ultimately destroy our identity. A healthy dependence on God also prevents us from arrogantly ascribing all success to our own intelligence, strength or determination.
- Setbacks are able to refine and mature us. (James 1:2-4) Through the bitterness of disappointment, the pain of failure, the hurt of rejection and the confusion of loss, we can learn many lessons that success can’t teach us. Despair tells us that this is all there is, but it’s important to remember that God is the God of hope. (Rom 15:13) There are many avenues which would never have been even considered were it not for that initial failure. God is able to use every situation of life for our good. (Rom 8:28)
- Our lives are in God’s hands. Life inevitably has mountain top experiences and valleys of despair. Keeping the long view is essential. Athletes have to do this all the time to persevere through the harsh realities of training, and keeping the long view is essential to running the race of life. (2 Cor 4:16-18) We may not receive the ‘prize’ we long for on earth, but God is preparing rewards for His children, an eternal glory which far outweighs the troubles of this life.
Wherever we are in life’s journey, we can rest secure in the fact that God loves us and is in control. (Ps 62:11-12) He is greater than our highs and lows!
