Giving Glory To God: It’s A Win-Win Situation

(Photo: Twitter/Josh Whipp)

With the Olympics now almost reaching an end, there have been many memorable moments so far in this London 2012 games. There was Michael Phelps in the pool winning his 22^nd career medal and 18^th gold of his career, establishing himself as one of the best Olympians of all-time. On the track, there was Usain Bolt, who became the first man to repeat as the 100 meter dash champion since American Carl Lewis.

However, I want to keep my focus here on one event that caught my eye during last week. That was the gymnastics. Before the Olympics began, I filled out a prayer request form from a group called Athletes in Action. In the e-mail I got sent back, I received the names of five Christian athletes from all around the world to pray for throughout the Games. They came from a variety of sports from table tennis to swimming to soccer.

The one sport I watched over the past week that made me praise God most of all was the gymnastics. In particular, the athlete I want to spotlight is 16-year-old American Gabrielle (Gabby) Douglas. Douglas won the women’s all-around competition last Thursday night, ending it in style with a dazzling floor routine.

It was her comments to NBC afterwards that made me a huge fan of hers.  This is what she told the NBC reporter:

“It is everything I thought it would be; being the Olympic champion, it definitely is an amazing feeling. And I give all the glory to God. It’s kind of a win-win situation. The glory goes up to him and the blessings fall down on me.”

Douglas is absolutely right! When we give glory to God, win or lose, we are rewarded. However, it is not an earthly reward we should expect, but a heavenly reward. You can still bring glory to God in whatever you do, even if you are not a gold-medal athlete.  Paul tells the people about this in a letter to the Colossians:

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (Colossians 3:16-17)

Today, I exhort you to continue bringing glory to God in whatever you do. Remember that without God, we would not be able to do anything. He gets the glory and like Gabby said, all the blessings come down to us. The love of Jesus should always remain in our hearts! True, we can win a gold medal or eighteen like Michael Phelps, but the ultimate prize that we have is eternal life given through the death of Jesus on the cross!