Olympic runner Eric Liddell was a missionary kid from a family of missionaries. Good, wonderful work that is right by every definition. And to the great disappointment and confusion of his family, he left the ministry to run in the Olympics. Why? Because as he said to his sister in the movie “Chariots of Fire,” “God made me fast. When I run, I feel God’s pleasure.”
As Ephesians 2:10 says, “we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” I don’t believe that God prepared every possible good work, scattered them out before us and leaves us to run around trying to hit them all. I believe there is a trail, a specific road, especially prepared, with certain works that are mine to do.
When I do what I am created for, I feel God’s pleasure. This in itself an act of worship, head back, arms flailing, grinning wide with teeth full of mud (Eric Liddell running in the rain), I feel nothing but a smiling God looking down at me, and I am filled with strength to run and wings to soar like the eagles, not weary, not tired. Soaring on God’s pleasure.
I find peace, not when I try to do every good thing, but when I do the good things that God has made me for, lined out for me to do, and prepared beforehand that I should walk in them. That is when I most feel His pleasure, most worship my Savior, and most rest in His peace.
Excerpt from “Peace and How to Keep It.”