Running Free in the Will of God

In the summer of 1924, Scottish sprinter Eric Liddell arrived at the Paris Olympics as the favorite in the 100 meters. But when he learned the heats were scheduled for a Sunday, he refused to run. The British Olympic committee pressured him. The press mocked him. An entire nation expected him to compromise. He would not.

Instead, Liddell entered the 400 meters — a race he had barely trained for. On July 11, he lined up against the fastest quarter-milers in the world. He ran with an unorthodox style, head thrown back, arms churning wildly. He won the gold medal and set a world record.

What looked like restriction turned out to be liberation. Liddell did not experience his conviction as a chain. He experienced it as wings. As the film Chariots of Fire would later portray him saying, "God made me fast, and when I run, I feel His pleasure."

The world tells us that freedom means the absence of all boundaries — do what you want, when you want. But scripture tells us something different. Jesus said, "If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." True freedom is not the removal of every fence. It is finding the field where your soul was made to run.

When we surrender to the will of the Almighty, we do not lose ourselves. We finally discover what we were built for.