Feeling His Pleasure

In the summer of 1924, Scottish sprinter Eric Liddell arrived at the Paris Olympics as the favorite in the 100 meters. When he learned the heats fell on a Sunday, he refused to run. The press mocked him. His own Olympic committee pressured him to compromise. Liddell held firm.

He entered the 400 meters instead — a distance he had barely raced — and won gold, setting a world record.

In the film Chariots of Fire, the character of Liddell tells his sister, "God made me for a purpose, but He also made me fast. And when I run, I feel His pleasure." Liddell's life bore that out. After the Olympics, he walked away from fame and spent the rest of his days as a missionary in China, serving until his death in a Japanese internment camp in 1945.

The world wanted Eric Liddell to be a champion. The Almighty made him to be faithful.

Purpose is not about finding the stage that makes you famous. It is about discovering the calling that makes you faithful. When you give yourself fully to what God made you for, even quiet obedience becomes an act of worship. You feel His pleasure. And that is enough.