Hi friends,
In high school, I ran cross country. Every year, our team watched Chariots of Fire to inspire us to give our best - and perhaps, to trust in God.
This scene still gives me chills:
It depicts Eric Liddell reading from Isaiah 40 at the Church of Scotland as his teammates compete in the 1924 Olympics.
Because of his convictions, Liddell refused to run his best race, the 100m, on a Sunday. One of his teammates, Andrew Lindsay, very graciously trades spots with Liddell. So Lindsay runs the 100m on Sunday, and the following Thursday, Liddell runs the 400m - and wins gold.
I did do a quick fact check, and see that the movie added a bit of unhistorical dramatic tension!
It’s true that Liddell refused to run on the Sunday, but since the race schedule was published months in advance he had ample time to swap events and train for the 400 metres. The added tension of the late change does make for a sharper movie, though, and at least Chariots of Fire gets the outcome of this race right.
Keeping the Lord’s Day is a matter of personal conviction, but I admire Liddell for maintaining his convictions, even at the risk of not competing in the Olympics (at least in the movie version). As Romans 14:5 puts it, “One person judges one day to be more important than another day. Someone else judges every day to be the same. Let each one be fully convinced in his own mind.”
What verses give you strength when you need God’s help to be faithful to your convictions?