In much of my life, I felt like I had to balance two different people. On the track, I had to care only about being successful, while in my relationship with Andre, I had to be willing to sacrifice for him. When competing, my objective was to leave others in my wake, but while I was with my family, I was called to put them before myself. And to succeed as a professional track athlete, I had to be aggressive, a killer competitor. Yet off the track, I wanted to be humble, gentle, and kind. The Bible talks about having a meek and gentle spirit, which 1 Peter 3:4 says is precious in the sight of God. That sounded great. Problem was, how do you do that one minute, then the next want nothing more than to be the best in the world and destroy everyone you compete against? When I became a Christian, I knew I wanted to stop living like a “double- minded man” (or woman, in this case), as James 1:8 describes. That kind of inconsistency between my thoughts and behavior did not honor God and, to be honest, was exhausting to live with.
Fortunately, I didn’t have to figure all this out on my own. Now there were other believers in my life I could turn to. Between the NFL Bible study Andre had invited me to a few months earlier and another Bible study Andre started separately, there was plenty of counsel to hear from (Proverbs 15:22). Andre and I spent hours talking through my internal dilemma. Through those conversations, I began to realize that I didn’t have to live with my version of a split personality: a kind, soft- spoken, humble- minded person off the track and a killer competitor on it. Both were consistent with the Christian life.
How? The reason starts with a fundamental truth about my newfound identity. As a Christian, I now existed to glorify God (1 Corinthians 6:19–20; Matthew 5:16). At the beginning of 2021, I was learning all the ways my life wasn’t about me. It was about showing the world God’s power, wisdom, kindness, love, and forgiveness. There were a bunch of different ways to do that. Off the track, I could do that by serving others, putting their needs before mine, and being excited when God did a remarkable work in their lives (Philippians 2:3–4). On the track, I glorified God by running with all my mind and body. I honored him when I gave every scrap of energy I had to the task at hand. Because this was the gift God gave me to use, and by using it to the best of my ability and humbly redirecting the attention to him, he would be glorified.
I began to resonate with the famous words from the movie Chariots of Fire, which tells the story of Eric Liddell, a Christian sprinter and missionary: “God made me fast. And when I run, I feel his pleasure.” That’s an amazing thought. He takes pleasure in us doing what we were made for. And win, lose, or draw, to run the race well is to glorify him.
Far Beyond Gold: Running from Fear to Faith by Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone available here: https://www.amazon.com/Far-Beyond-Gold-Running-Faith/dp/0785297995
Excerpt taken from Far Beyond Gold: Running from Fear to Faith. Published by W. Publishing Group. An Imprint of Thomas Nelson. Copyright 2024. Used with permission.
Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/Julian Finney / Staff
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone — Two-time Olympic gold medalist and world record–holding American sprinter and hurdler. In 2016, she made history at age 16 as the youngest US Olympian to compete in track and field since 1972 and set a junior world record in the 400m hurdles at the Olympic team trials. McLaughlin cemented herself as a track superstar in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics by winning a gold medal in the 400-meter hurdles, breaking the world record with a 51.46-second time, and winning a gold medal for the 4×400-meter relay. In 2022, McLaughlin again broke the 400-meter hurdle record and won a gold medal at the Track and Field World Championships in Eugene, Oregon. She ran a mind-blowing 50.68 seconds, becoming the first woman to ever run the race under 51 seconds, making it the fourth time in two years she’d broken the world record. McLaughlin was named one of 2022 World Athletics’ Athletes of the Year.
