Even someone as fast as Usain Bolt or Andre De Grasse, started out in the same place as everyone else – a little child, off balanced, learning how to put one foot in front of the other. Soon they developed the ability to walk quite naturally and before long they were likely speeding around the house causing their mammas all sorts of trouble (I’m speculating here, I don’t actually know either of these guys). As they grew up and matured, their bodies learned how to move faster and eventually they became two of the fastest people on the planet. They had to train and work to get to the place on the Olympic podium and they developed their skills and continually pushed themselves to be better athletes.
In 1 Corinthians 9:25, Paul states “all athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize” (NLT). Here, Paul is drawing a comparison between earthly training and heavenly training. As followers of Jesus we must discipline ourselves physically, spiritually and emotionally so that our ability to preach the gospel and be an example of Christ’s love on earth is not hindered. Further, we must train our spiritual muscles to be ready for our “Olympic moments” when Jesus calls us to step out and run full force for his glory. But we can’t expect that we can win the medal if we haven’t spent the time training, can we? Not likely, it could happen but it probably won’t. If we start out our spiritual exercises like a toddler learning to walk, learning to balance, and learning to trust in our Heavenly Father to help us, soon enough we will be running full speed into our very own destiny.