This summer many of us may be watching athletes compete in the Olympic Games in Paris. In the 1924 Olympics, a man by the name of Eric Liddell took 47.6 seconds to win the 400 metres race games, and his famous victory has now become a timeless moment in modern sporting history and achievement.  FF Bruce, a theologian has said of Eric Liddell that ‘his refusal to run on Sunday made a great impression on his schoolmates and himself in the far distant days of 1924’. Earlier this year I read the biography about Eric Liddell and I today I want to share a reflection that may help us have a glimpse of the man and the God he loved and lived for. This may help us in running the race to the finish line and beyond.

I have always known that he was a runner but knew very little of the things he wrote, and his successes off the running track. Eric entered amateur races in Glasgow and other venues and ran on grass and cinder tracks in different race meetings. In 1919 Eric aged seventeen, set a new record for 100 yards in a time of 10.2 seconds. Running was not his only sport as he also played rugby at Eltham college in 1918 and made the point that, ‘One of the hardest lessons to learn is how to start’. An unknown source has said of Eric that he had a dreadful running style, but his space devouring legs, raced on a straight path to the tape, aiming to run at speed, putting all his strength into the effort of winning.

Eric was born in China to missionary parents and sometime after the Olympics he returned to China to be an ambassador for Christ, in another country. His motto was. ‘Christ for the world, the world needs Christ’. A missionary colleague in China once asked him did he ever pray that he would win a race. His answer was, ‘No, l never prayed that l would win a race. I have of course, prayed about athletic meetings, asking that in this too, God might be glorified’.

In 1929 he started courting Florence the daughter of a Canadian missionary. She went to Canada in July 1930 to train as a nurse and in March 1934 they were married. They had three children, Patrica and Heather were born in China and Maureen was born in Toronto.

Eric Liddell took time out to write a book called the disciplines of the Christian Life. One small part he wrote about is the secret of obedience. He suggests taking obedience with you into your prayer hour, for you will know as much of God, as you are willing to put into practice. He shared words from 1 Corinthians 9 v 24, it says ‘Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize. Run in such a way as to get the prize’. He shared the words of a hymn, ‘When we walk with the Lord, In the light of His Word, what glory he sheds on our way! While we do his will,
He abides with us still, and with all who will trust and obey’.

Unfortunately, Eric never lived to see his youngest daughter, as he continued to work in the villages in China to help local preachers. Eric’s last words were ‘it is surrender’, Eric had run his course on this earth and at 9:20pm in the evening of 21st February 1945, aged 43 he passed into the presence of his Lord, to enjoy ‘a fellowship immeasurably richer, and a service more wonderful by far, than any which on we earth can know’.

In conclusion, may we run the race God has called us to run and go beyond. Eric’s calling was not just to run but also to share his faith at various gatherings where he quoted from the Old Testament, ‘Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth’, Ecclesiastes 12 v 1. Eric set his mind and heart on a different race; may we do the same to gain the prize. Philippians 3 v 13 – 14 says, ‘Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus’.