The Emptiness of Elite Athletes Apart from Christ

During the Olympics, I saw a brief interview with US diver David Boudia. He said something about God's goodness and sovereignty and it caught my attention. So, I began an investigation...I looked him up on twitter.  So, I am not much of a detective, but there I saw several tweets about his Christian faith that were encouraging.

Today, I read an article in the Baptist press about him which was also encouraging, "Olympic diver Boudia's empty life undergoes 'radical change'".  In it, his testimony of how he came to Christ is laid out. His diving coach at Perdue was the one who helped lead him to the Lord.  Boudia told his coach, Adam Soldati, that he was feeling hopeless. Soldati commented that the hopelessness he saw in Boudia was common among elite athletes.

They're grabbing onto and they're holding onto their sport to ultimately define them, to give them a sense of identity," Soldati said. "God has put that in us to run after and to seek satisfaction, but ultimately that's going to be found in His son Jesus, period.

How true that is. And this isn't just true for elite athletes I'd argue. Elite athletes may sense it more acutely (as well as elite CEO's, political movers and shakers, and academic elites).  These individuals, if they do not know Christ, have tasted the best the world has to offer (or are seeking it with all their might) and realize it is empty. The success doesn't provide the promised goods. The reason it is empty isn't because good things are bad. It is because seeking identity, purpose, and to worship good things is idolatry and not what we were made for. We were made to delight in God (Ps. 16).

Every human being searches for something to define him or her. But, the Bible tells us our identity is to be found in the one whose image we were made in- God.  The image has been defaced by our sinfulness, but those who are in Christ are being recreated into the image of Jesus Christ. That is a message all of us need to hear.  I am thankful for that reminder from the testimony of David Boudia and Adam Soldati.