Paris 2024: The best we can be

As Paris 2024 begins, Major Lynne Shaw encourages us to strive to be humbler, kinder and closer to Christ.

Yesterday marked the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympics in Paris, which made me think of the film Chariots of Fire, which followed Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell competing at the Paris 1924 Olympics.

Both men had internal motivations to run. Abrahams, a Jew, found that he often faced obstacles and prejudice, despite leading a somewhat-privileged life. He earned respect because of his speed, but ultimately was trying to change things. He once paraphrased
an old adage suggesting he was invited to the trough but wasn’t allowed to drink. Liddell wanted to reveal something else: his faith. In the film, he says: ‘God made me fast. And when I run, I feel his pleasure.’

Fast forward 100 years and in the coming fortnight you might watch Noah Lyles win the 100m or 200m. Perhaps you’ll watch gymnast Simone Biles, who claimed four gold medals and a bronze at Rio 2016, adding a silver and another bronze at the delayed Tokyo 2020 tournament. That year, she suffered what’s called ‘the twisties’, a kind of mental block. One commenter on social media thanked her for modelling how to handle mistakes well and keep going.

Simone, Noah, Harold and Eric all exemplify the Olympic motto of ‘faster, higher, stronger’. But it’s in the ‘er’ – in the small gains – that the results happen. It’s about striving for improvement and growth.

As Jesus’ followers, we are invited to the trough to drink deep of the ‘living water’ (John 7:38). Jesus is our life source and our energy for living. We may not be faster, higher or stronger, but we aim for a different result: to be more like Christ in our living, loving, actions and words. 

We ‘seek first the Kingdom of God’ (Matthew 6:33 English Standard Version). Some translations of that verse suggest ‘strive’ in place of the word ‘seek’, which has a sense of effort about it. We need to desire, even require, the Kingdom of God before anything else.

Essentially, Jesus is saying that our first priority, which shapes everything else, is living the way God would have us live, in our own circumstances. The ‘er’ of our striving is in being nearer, closer to the heart of God, so that the Kingdom may be alive and visible within us, just as God’s presence always is.

Running the race in the footsteps of Jesus is not about being better, smarter, funnier or even wiser than anyone else. It is about being humbler – not in competition with anyone, which is very different to humility – and kinder, reaching up, out and in to be deeply connected to God and work for the betterment of our world.

I leave the final words to Liddell’s speech in Chariots of Fire: ‘Where does the power come from, to see the race to its end? From within. Jesus said, “Behold, the Kingdom of God is within you. If, with all your hearts, you truly seek me, you shall ever surely find me.” If you commit yourself to the love of Christ, then that is how you run a straight race.’

Reflect and respond

• How do you make God’s Kingdom visible?
• What’s one way you can challenge prejudice in the world?
• How do you handle your mistakes?
• What are some of your ‘er’s?
• When do you feel God’s pleasure and delight in you?