Photo and Commentary ©2024 by Darren Milam
Wednesday, August 7, 2024
Whether you have been following the Olympic games or not, most likely you’ve heard of the term “Olympic hopeful.” It’s used to describe an athlete training for and being considered for their respective team. The word “hope,” from the Oxford dictionary, is a feeling for expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen. So, regardless of being an elite athlete or not, everyone can have hope.
In Romans 8:24 & 25, Paul writes to the Romans in Corinth. He knows they are facing adversity, and he’s encouraging them to look beyond the current moment and instead setting their focus on the end goal.
“For in this hope we were saved,” he says. “But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.”
Like the Olympic hopeful, training day after day, facing setbacks, major injuries, or the creep of complacency, it can be difficult to see what they don’t have but want. With hope, instead of concentrating on the now, they must put their blinders around their eyes so they can visualize what’s to come. Always focusing on the prize at the end of their journey.
The same can be true about Christians. We too, face adversity every day, but we certainly have the hope of eternal life. What greater prize is there? It’s certainly not a medal to wear around your neck. No, the greatest prize of all eternity is before us. It’s down the road a bit, but still worth every ounce of hope we can imagine.
For clarity, I did not visit the Olympics this year. I took this image of the Eiffel tower (in Paris) a few years back.