Many of us were captivated by the dedication and perseverance of Jack Hughes in the Gold Medal Men’s Hockey Game. In the third period Hughes took a high stick to the face that knocked out two of his teeth. A penalty was called and Hughes went to the bench. His next shift he was back out on the ice. He played every shift after the injury, including overtime where he scored the winning goal. After the game Hughes, with a gap in his blood-tinged smile, said “It was all for our country.” As I think about Hughes’ focus and perseverance, I couldn’t help but think of Philippians 3:13-14; “forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
Hughes embodied this in forgetting about the injury and pain of the teeth and strained forward toward the game winning goal. For disciples there is a much more important goal, but a similar call to move past the pains, the limitations, and the injuries, that we would press on to the call to pursue and make well-rounded disciples. Paul, the writer of Philippians, knew the reality of this type of focused commitment and perseverance.
In Acts 14:19-23 we find Paul being stoned by the crowd and dragged out of Lystra, only to return days later to continue the work of “strengthening the souls of disciples”. Later Paul would write about the “thorn in his side” and prayed that God would take it away. Even when God said “no”, he continued to press on to the call to share the gospel and plant churches.
What about us? How much do our lives reflect this type of focus, dedication, and perseverance? How easily are we sidelined? What are we pressing on for?
For Hughes and for Paul the focus on the goal, the completion of a mission, empowered them to overcome the challenges and press on. We are called and equipped to join Jesus’ mission to seek and save the lost. We are promised that nothing, not teeth, not thorns, not cancer, not anything can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.
Let us not miss a shift as we press on toward the goal.
Yours in Christ, Jim