Starting this July, Tokyo will hold the 24th edition of the Summer Olympics. The Olympic Games are considered to be the most elite and greatest sporting events in the entire world. Only the best athletes from each country are allowed to compete which naturally draws a great deal of attention worldwide. The last summer Olympics (2016 Rio de Janeiro) drew in an audience of 3.6 billion people. It’s by far the biggest stage in sports.
Because of the sheer level of competition, people train their entire lives to not only be a part of the Olympics but to compete and win a medal. The goal is to not just win any medal though. The goal is to eventually stand on the stage and hold up the gold medal. Many can only dream of what it would be like to win a gold medal. With the magnitude of the situation, imagine the delight and satisfaction these athletes must feel when they finally win the gold after spending hours upon hours upon hours of intense training just to reach that very moment. It has to be one of the most memorable moments in any athlete’s entire life.
Now imagine what it would feel like to not only win one gold medal but to go out and win 18. This is exactly what Michael Phelps did in the 2012 Olympics, and by doing so he secured his spot as the greatest Olympian ever. The greatest. No questions asked. Anyone would say that this must be it. He’s finally reached the pinnacle of success, and this should leave him fulfilled. Except it didn’t.
Following his retirement in 2012, he told ESPN that he struggled to “figure out who he was outside the pool”. In his words, "I was a train wreck. I was like a time bomb, waiting to go off. I had no self-esteem, no self-worth. There were times where I didn't want to be here. It was not good. I felt lost”.
This leaves many wondering how on earth could this incredible achievement not leave him with a sense of self-worth? How could he have reached rock bottom so quickly following this moment? I mean he was considered (and still is) not only the best swimmer of all time but the greatest Olympian ever. This story illustrates to us an important truth: The satisfaction and fulfillment the world offers are short-lived. They only leave us feeling like there is something more to life.
John 6:27- “Do not work for the food that perishes…”
Christ illustrates this very principle when speaking to the crowd in Capernaum. The world offers us temporal and momentary gratifications (food that perishes) which leave us feeling more empty than beforehand. The things the world offers to us such as fame, success, money, affirmation, and comfort will never give us what we deep down really want and need. See the world can never fully fulfill our lives because our lives were only made to be fully fulfilled by God alone.
John 6:33,35- “33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. 35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”
Being in a relationship with Christ, the Son of the Living God, is the only thing in this world that can truly satisfy our hungry hearts. By believing in his work on the Cross, we will fill the void in our heart that there is something more to life because Christ offers all that we could ever want in himself. He will satisfy your desire for something more. He will bring to you the joy, fulfillment, security, and satisfaction that you’ve always wanted. Run to him today.
Richard Phillips: “Coming to Jesus starts with realizing the hunger of your soul. Do you not realize how unfulfilling life is apart from fellowship with the Son of God? Do you not realize that your need for new experiences, new thrills, and new achievements merely proves that you were made for something higher? God’s provision for our highest, eternal needs is Jesus Christ, the true Bread whom God has sent into the world.”
- - Grant Watson