Editorial

𝗢𝗹𝘆𝗺𝗽𝗶𝗰 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗶𝗼𝗻

There are a host of reasons to remember Liddell. As this summer marks the 100-year anniversary of the 1924 Paris Olympics, we look back on his triumphant victory there in the 400 meters.

That story begins in his rivalry with fellow British sprinter Harold Abrahams, the two entering the Olympics as favorites in both the 100 meters and 200 meters. However, Liddell dropped out of a heat for the 100 meters because it was run on Sunday (a race Abrahams later won). Liddell’s decision to skip those races for his religious convictions was immortalized in the movie “Chariots of Fire”. 

I grew up loving that movie, the glimpse of a man who stood firmly on his faith and still emerged a champion. Liddell’s character famously says, “I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast. When I run, I feel his pleasure.” Many a young Christian has been inspired by the fact that, for Liddell, even athletics was a place of worship.

𝗠𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗖𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗮

Perhaps an even greater reason to remember Liddell is his decision to lay aside his athletic career for a higher calling. After returning from Olympic triumph in Paris to overwhelming popular adulation, he shocked everyone by announcing his intention to return to China as a missionary.

In an age when sports was becoming ever more popular in Britain, many argued he could reach more people at home than abroad. Indeed, the Sunday after he returned from Paris to preach in a Scottish church, the pews were filled with people. Liddell preached on Psalm 119:18: “Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law” (KJV).

It was plausible that staying in Britain and continuing his athletic career might fit hand-in-glove with Liddell’s desire to preach the gospel. When asked why he’d give up such an opportunity, he’d simply reply, “Because I believe God made me for China.” The next summer, he traveled the Trans-Siberian railway overland from Europe through Russia and down to China. He would serve there for 20 years as a missionary.

𝗙𝗮𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗦𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗮𝗻𝘁

Liddell was able to minister for many months until finally he was rounded up with more than 2,000 others and taken to an internment camp in Weixian (the modern city of Weifang). Even there, his ministry flourished. Despite appalling conditions and death all around him, he poured himself into ministry with the young people of the camp. Langdon Gilkey writes,

"The man who more than anyone brought about the solution of the teen-age problem was Eric. . . . It is rare indeed when a person has the good fortune to meet a saint, but he came as close to it as anyone I have ever known. Often in an evening of that last year I would pass the game room and peer in to see what the missionaries had cooking for the teenagers. As often as not Eric would be bent over a chessboard or a model boat, or directing some sort of square dance—absorbed, warm and interested, pouring all of himself into this effort to capture the minds and imaginations of those penned up youths."

This is a snapshot of a missionary faithfully at work. At this point, Liddell was already physically suffering from the brain tumor that would eventually take his life. But he was still engaged in ministry to others—leading Bible studies, counseling others, doing physical labor to meet practical needs. Thus he continued until February 21, 1945, when he died. According to a fellow missionary, Liddell's last words were, "It's complete surrender", in reference to how he had given his life to God.

𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗮𝗰𝗲

The apostle Paul wrote about the end of his own life as the finishing of a race: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Tim. 4:7). In doing so, he exhorted Timothy—and all of us—to give everything we have until the finish line. The Christian life is a race not just to be started but to be run with perseverance all the way to the end. The way we finish speaks the most loudly of the object of our faith.

When you watch the Olympics this summer in Paris, think back not just on the Olympic glory Liddell won there 100 years earlier. Think about his love for China that led him to leave athletics behind for his calling there. Most of all, think about his love for Christ that carried him all the way to the end of his race.