For people who dislike sport, choosing to watch television must be hard at the moment. Football, cricket, swimming, the Olympics and many, many more sports are being shown on many television channels much of the day. There are cups and medals always being competed for and won or lost .Sport is a healthy thing for mind and body. I follow my local football team but to corrupt the words of Alfred, Lord Tennyson in his Charge of the Light Brigade, ‘half a league, half a league, half a league onward’, the story of my team is, ‘up a league and down a league, do better next year.’
It is sad to read of former sportspeople having to sell their medals to buy essentials because they have fallen on hard times. Their trophies are not in their lives for ever.. We strive hard for achievement, but their permanence is short. Athletes grow old and can no longer compete and the life of athletes achieving medals is a short one.
Paul has something to say about this ‘They do it for a crown which will not last……’. 1 Corinthians 9:25. But he goes on to say ‘But we do it for a crown that will last for ever.’ Jesus put the same thoughts into parables. We think of the parable of the hidden talent in the field, where a man sells everything he has to buy that field. We know that our earthy achievements and possessions will not last. I realise that on my death, as I have no descendants, all my belongings will be put into a skip. I hold them lightly because they are not of substance. I want to hold on to that which will last through eternity.