"The Olympic Myth" -- and My Response

My Response to:  “The Olympic Myth”  

By:  George Nielsen - August 10, 2012

“The Olympic Myth” is a recent posting at www.preteenministry.net .  This is one of the ministries that I have ‘liked’ and subscribed to, on Facebook.    Excerpts from the post are shown below, and a link to the full post is given at the end of my response.    The basic premise of the post is that the effort and character qualities of Olympic championship athletes, that they need to reach that level of achievement, are NOT the right approach for achieving ministry and spiritual life goals.   The myth is that the same model for achievement used by Olympians will work for Christians in their spiritual life.     I agree -- that is a myth.    But I feel that the post needs to be supplemented by comments that add some balance, regarding our own effort, and don’t leave the impression that it’s okay to be a spiritual “slacker”.     

Excerpt:

As the summer olympics come to a close, I have been reflecting on what I call the olympic myth. Let me explain.

Some of the keys to success for olympians is hard work, determination and persistence. They set goals and create daily habits that move them towards their destination. Eventually those habits, combined with a good attitude bring them victory. Yes, not everyone gets an olympic medal. But the super stars do.

Now, these characteristics are good. In fact, God applauds persistence, self-determination and working hard. The danger is when we carry this attitude over into our spiritual lives.

The problem is that many of us try too hard when it comes to following Jesus. We try hard to avoid sin, maybe even setting specific goals in this area. We are determined to get closer to God. We persistently read the Bible and pray without those practices having much of an impact in how we act. We hear a message and are determined that change will happen if we make the right choices.

The problem with this approach is that it doesn’t work long-term. We end up frustrated and confused. The bigger problem comes when we push this approach on those that we lead. We tell them to try harder and be stronger when following Jesus. As a result, they end up frustrated and confused as well. Some even quit following Jesus. We weren’t designed by God to try harder.

We were designed to rely on Jesus more often, not try harder.

So, stop trying and start relying on Him!

My Response:
Your point is valid, regarding relying on extra effort as THE way to achieve ministry or spiritual life goals. It is not the way.  Receiving guidance and strength from Jesus is the answer, along with your own effort and persistence.    We want to teach our preteens to connect to Jesus as their Source.  One of my fellow ministers has a saying "Look to the Source for your resources."   This lines up with our Theme and prayer emphasis for this year "Fix your Eyes on Jesus."

You should note that the article doesn't give enough credit to the importance of putting in your own effort to persist with spiritual disciplines.   There is a balance -- between legitimate personal effort and reliance on supernatural help from the Lord.   We want to teach the kids to build their devotion to Jesus and stay connected spiritually to the Lord, to be faithful young disciples of Jesus.  To Be a faithful, and growing, young disciple of Jesus, it is still important to Do spiritual disciplines that strengthen that devotion.   "BE"-ing comes first, but there is also a place for emphasizing "Do"-ing, for the young disciple of Jesus.    

For the 5th graders I teach, Being a Young Disciple of Jesus is the primary goal for this year.   But I don't feel I can neglect their development of spiritual disciplines, and I feel the kids need to put in a lot more of their own effort too.

- George Nielsen

To read the full post “The Olympic Myth” - Click HERE .