Eighty-five-year-old Lew Hollander was given some interesting advice in his lifetime. "When I was a kid, medical pros preached that exercise was bad for you. They said you only have so many heart beats, so don’t waste them.
The 58-time Ironman finisher holds the Guinness World Record for their triathlon’s oldest competitor—which he set at 82 years of age. An ironman triathlon is one of a series of long-distance races consisting of a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bicycle ride and a 26.22 marathon run, raced in that order and without a break. It is widely considered one of the most difficult one-day sporting events in the world. After every race, Lew takes time to ask a very important question:
"I look at my reflection and I ask myself, 'Lew, did you do the best that you could today?"
What Lew does for every race is what Lent calls every Christian to do—to reflect, “Did I do my best today as a Christian?” His goal was higher than just surviving but striving. The Apostle Paul wanted the same as a Christian—not to settle for existing and sitting out his days surviving. As he watched the Olympic games in his day, he was inspired to write the Philippian Christians to set higher goals like the athletes, to strive for the “one thing.” There is a higher calling, the one thing, for Christians that supersedes college degrees, money in the bank and popularity.
What’s that one thing and how do you get? Turn to Philippians, 3:10,13,14. There you will see the one high calling: to be a Philippian Olympian. It requires a three-stage training: First you must reject. Then you must project. Lastly you must press on. Reject, project, and press on. When you do that, you will be more than an Iron Man triathlete.
Lent, that begins on Ash Wednesday of the Christian calendar, is the 40 days of spiritual preparation for Easter. It’s a time for reflection, a looking in; a self-examination of our old condition of sin. Second, it’s a time for looking forward to the new possibilities in Christ’s resurrection, a good time to ask yourself, “Did I do my best to gain the one thing--to grow?
First, to win this one goal of the prize of the high calling, you have to reject the mess in your past. Paul confessed to the Philippians that he had to give up things in his past that hindered his greater future:
7 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. 3:13a… forgetting those things which are behind. Phil. 3:10:7,13a
Paul reflected after his post-resurrection Damascus Road encounter with Christ, things he and you must let go:
You must give up, let go of phony pedigrees (5-6)
You must let go of tarnished passions (6a)
You must let go of plated performance (6b)
Reflect: What past accomplishments have you put too much value in comparison to serving Christ?
After you reject the past, you must project the future: reach for what lies ahead. Paul looked toward a future of more powerful spiritual possibilities.
13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do…and reaching forth unto those things which are before. Phil. 3:13
Paul kept his eye on the bigger prize—the resurrection.
That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death. Phil. 3:10
Paul saw the gains possible in living an Easter resurrected life:
You gain the power of the resurrection to live a changed life (10a)
You gain the fellowship of his suffering to fully identify with Christ (10b).
Project: Look forward to living a powerful life even where you are. You have the power to change and the fellowship of other Christians to help you.
Finaly, if you want the “the one thing--to grow--,” you've got to press—to pursue, strive.
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Phil. 3:14
Paul pressed—strove, and so should you:
Press every day in the Word. Strive to read, memorize, and meditate.
Press in worship. Strive to see how you live as a form of worship. Lifestyle outside of the walls of church on Sunday is just as legitimate in the eyes of God as singing, praising, and praying within the stained glassed temple we commune.
Press in witnessing. Strive every day to tell others about Christ in the way you live.
You don’t have to be a triathlete like Lew to grow. You can be a Philippian Olympian willing to run the forty days of Lent, rejecting, projecting and pressing toward an Easter resurrection renewed life.
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