Wise words with...

Sharing Gold

The social media and news channels were abuzz this week with the news that, for the first time since 1912, two athletes were going to share a gold medal.

According to Fox Sports:

“The pair were both flawless through the final on Sunday night, passing every level from 2.19 metres all the way up to 2.37 metres without a single fault. That made them equal-first on countback...

With the Olympic record of 2.39m the next level, Barshim and Tamberi instead spoke with officials about whether they even needed to enter a jump-off to decide gold.

“Do we have to go?” the Qatari jumper was heard asking.

The pair then shook hands and celebrated as joint gold medalists.”

Comments on social media reflected the general positive buzz. 

Naaman Zhuo wrote on Twitter, “You can SHARE the gold medal??? This is amazing. This is so loveable…”. Also on Twitter Franklin Leonard wrote “Truly the best of the Olympic Spirit”. 

Indeed it seems an amazing moment. Two athletes, one from Europe the other from the Middle East, cooperating together to share the glory of winning a gold medal. A healing moment for the world perhaps?

Except that one commentator on Twitter made the very important point that neither of them lost anything from the decision. The alternative, a jump-off, would have resulted in a clear winner and a loser. By making this agreement, they both won! The outcome reflects a flaw in the rules that such an agreement can be made in the first place. But in the end, they both got to share the glory of winning a gold medal.

I wonder if our approach to God can be similar? Are we too quick to share the glory of our achievements and successes, rather than letting God take the podium alone? 

After all, the Bible says that God has made us and formed us (Psalm 119:73), and has given us the opportunities to achieve in life, whether in family, school, work, hobbies, sport or in our community.

Moreover, we are told bluntly that glory belongs to God alone. The Bible says in Isaiah 42:8 

“I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to anyone else.”

Shouldn’t we be quick to give God the glory?