When Your Fastest Run Is A No

A single line from Scripture can rearrange your priorities: “Train yourself to be godly.” We take 1 Timothy 4:7-8 out of the abstract and into real life, where godliness is not just what we know but how we live, choose, and respond under pressure. If you’ve ever felt the tension between doing what’s right and doing what’s rewarded, this one will meet you right where you are.

We walk through the true story of Eric Liddell, the “Flying Scotsman,” whose God-given speed put him on the world stage. When the 1924 Olympic schedule threatened his Sabbath conviction, he refused to run the qualifying heat for his best event and accepted the cost. That moment isn’t about being dramatic, it’s about spiritual discipline, Christian character, and a settled decision to seek God’s approval above applause. And yes, the story keeps going: different races, unexpected outcomes, and a definition of success that doesn’t depend on a podium.

Then the spotlight fades, and the training becomes even clearer. Liddell leaves competitive fame to serve as a missionary in China, and later, in a Japanese internment camp during World War II, he pours his energy into helping others, teaching, organizing, and quietly modeling kindness. We reflect on what his life teaches about calling, integrity, temptation, and the daily habits that form a steady faith.

If you want practical encouragement for Christian discipleship, spiritual growth, and training for godliness in everyday decisions, press play. Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs a reset, and leave a review so more people can start their day by starting right.

Transcript

Welcome And Daily Focus

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Good morning and welcome to Starting Right. I am Danny Mack, and I'm going to be here every Monday to Friday to help you get a great start to your day. So grab your cup of coffee, sit back and relax for the next five minutes as I help you start your day by starting right.

Training For Godliness Explained

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Train yourself to be godly. Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come. Those words are found in 1 Timothy chapter four verses seven and eight. The phrase training for godliness that's used there really means much more than just knowing what the Bible says. It's about how to live what the Bible says. It's about how to live the way God wants us to live in this world around us and maintain our priorities and our actions that are glorifying to God.

Eric Liddell Finds His Purpose

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Back prior to the nineteen twenty four Olympics, there was a man known as the Flying Scotsman, one of the fastest men in the world. His name was Eric Liddell. Liddell had actually been born in China to his Scottish parents who were missionaries back in nineteen oh two. He spent the first twelve years of his life in China and then moved back to Scotland for his further education. And as he grew, he realized that God had gifted him with something very special. He'd gifted him to be able to run very fast. Now, his running style wasn't exactly pretty, in fact, a lot of the running coaches of that day said you gotta change your style in order to do what you're doing. It's just not working. You're never gonna be world class running like that. Liddell's response was very direct. He said, I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast, and when I run, I feel his pleasure. Eric faced many challenges in his life, and the first great one came in those Olympics of nineteen twenty four, because his life was not about running as much as it was about God.

The Sabbath Choice At The Olympics

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His best event was the hundred meter race, but the qualifying heats for that race were scheduled on a Sunday. Liddell had been brought up to keep the Sabbath holy, and he maintained that all of his life, and he would not run the race on Sunday. He understood where his ability to run came from. He really knew he was running for God, and in the end he knew that the most important thing for him was to have God's approval. He really wanted to honor God with the gift that God had given him. So he refused to run the qualifying race and therefore was eliminated from the hundred meter event. But instead he went on to run and participate in both the two hundred and the four hundred meter races. In the two hundred meters he placed third, receiving the bronze medal, and when he ran the four hundred meters for Britain, he won the gold medal.

Gold Medal Glory Then Mission Work

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After all he achieved in becoming this gold medalist in the Olympics, he left competitive running and went back as a missionary again to China. He joined his father and mother back on that mission field. In nineteen forty three, as the Second World War raged on, Liddell and many other missionaries were captured by the Japanese. The missionaries, along with many Chinese Christians, were herded off to an internment camp. There he set out to make a difference. And when some rich businessman managed to smuggle in some eggs, Liddell shamed them into sharing them. Liddell was busy. He was helping the elderly, he was teaching Bible studies, he was arranging games, he was teaching children. Years later one of his fellow internees, Norman Cliff, wrote a book about his experiences in this camp.

Serving Others In The Internment Camp

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He described Lidell this way. He was the finest Christian gentleman and it has ever been my pleasure to meet. In all my time at the camp I never heard him say a bad word about anybody. Another camp survivor, Langdon Gilke, also said this of Liddell. Often in an evening I would see him bend over a chessboard or a model boat or directing some sort of square dance, absorbed, weary, and interested, pouring all of himself into his effort to capture the imagination of these pent up youths and other internees. He was overflowing with good humor and love for life, and with enthusiasm and charm. Eric Liddell, a man who had physical gifts and all of the opportunity to continue to pursue fame and glory, but instead he acknowledged where those physical gifts came from and chose to honor God with his life. He was once asked about why he did that, and he said it's natural, I guess, to think those things over sometimes, but I'm glad I'm at the work I'm engaged in now. A fellow's life counts for far more at this than just being a

Choosing God’s Approval Over Fame

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runner. Paul had encouraged Timothy to train for godliness, to be able to live life as God wanted us to, to not compromise in what God wants us to live and how he wants us to live. And in Eric Liddell's life, we see an example of someone who did just that. He said, My life is for the glory of God, and I will live it so that I make sure that I bring him glory and not me. We are all in this training for godliness. Sometimes we're tempted to compromise. Sometimes we're tempted to give up. Sometimes we're tempted to let our own desires and our own emotions get in the way of what God wants for us.

Higher Calling And Closing Invitation

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But let's remember that God has for us a higher calling and let his purpose and his love shine through us. Have a great day, my friends. We'll talk again tomorrow. Thank you for listening today. And I invite you to join me Monday to Friday right here on Starting Right with Danny Mack.