“If anyone competes as an athlete, he does not receive the victor’s crown unless he competes according to the rules” (2 Timothy 2:5).
How does my garden grow? With green boughs that might well
have crowned the heads of ancient Olympians. It was the old Greeks who brought
us the original Olympics, and just down the
As strange as it might seem to us, the Olympics did not originate as a television sport, with product endorsement contracts for the winners. (They ran in the buff, so there were no sports shoes and clothing to be sold, and Wheaties hadn’t been invented yet.) These athletes were happy just to have a leafy crown placed upon their heads—which introduces the topic of gardening.
In our front yard is an olive tree, like those whose silver-gray leaves formed the wreath to honor many a deserving head. And in the back yard grows the bay, the noble laurel, which has contributed not only its leaves and branches, but its name, to the honor it bestows.
In the earliest of the Isthmian games, they may have used parsley for a crown. The early Romans used grass. But whatever they used, all these crowns had one shortcoming in common. They soon wilted. They didn’t last, and this didn’t escape Paul’s notice.
Do you not know that
in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way
as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict
training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a
crown that will last forever (1
Corinthians
Paul used the great sports events of his day to make a point. Life is a contest. There is much to be won, much that can be lost. Christians must keep their focus. There is something to be said for keeping the rules. Personal discipline has value. It is important to run well.
And there is a crown that will last forever.