We hope you enjoy this re-post from March 31, 2015. Be blessed! The Today’s Quote From God Team

Wherefore the Lord God of Israel saith, I said indeed that thy house, and the house of thy father, should walk before me for ever: but now the Lord saith, Be it far from me; for them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed. – 1 Samuel 2:30, King James Version (KJV)

In 1981 the movie Chariots of Fire won the Academy Award for Best Picture. The movie tells the tale of long-distance runners Eric Liddell and Harold Abrahams who both earned Olympic medals for Great Britain in the 1924 Olympic Games. According to Wikipedia:

The 1924 Summer Olympics were hosted by the city of Paris. A devout Christian, [Eric] Liddell refused to run in a heat held on Sunday (the Christian Sabbath) and was forced to withdraw from the 100-metres race, his best event. The schedule had been published several months earlier, and his decision was made well before the Games. Liddell spent the intervening months training for the 400 metres, though his best pre-Olympics time of 49.6 seconds, set in winning the 1924 AAA championship 440 yards, was modest by international standards. When the day of the Olympic 400 metres final came, July 11, 1924, Liddell went to the starting blocks, where an American Olympic Team masseur slipped a piece of paper into his hand with a quotation from 1 Samuel 2:30: “Those who honor me I will honor.”

The 400 metres had been considered a middle-distance event in which runners raced round the first bend and coasted through the back leg. Inspired by the Biblical message, and deprived of a view of the other runners because he drew the outside lane, Liddell raced the whole of the first 200 metres to be well clear of the favoured Americans. With little option but to then treat the race as a complete sprint, he continued to race round the final bend. He was challenged all the way down the home straight but held on to take the win. He broke the existing Olympic and world records with a time of 47.6 seconds.

Indeed, God honored Eric Liddell in return for Liddell honoring Him, but what many people don’t know is that Liddell’s efforts to honor God continued even when the world wasn’t watching. As Wikipedia continues to report:

Liddell returned to Northern China to serve as a missionary, like his parents, from 1925 to 1943…In 1941 life in China had become so dangerous because of Japanese aggressiveness that…Florence [Liddell’s wife] and the children left for Canada to stay with her family…In 1943, he was interned at the Weihsien Internment Camp… Liddell became a leader and organiser at the camp, but food, medicine and other supplies were scarce…Liddell busied himself by helping the elderly, teaching at the camp school Bible classes, arranging games and by teaching science to the children, who referred to him as Uncle Eric…One of his fellow internees, Norman Cliff, later wrote a book about his experiences in the camp called “The Courtyard of the Happy Way” (also translated as “The Campus of Loving Truth”), which detailed the remarkable characters in the camp. Cliff described Liddell as “the finest Christian gentleman it has been my pleasure to meet. In all the time in the camp, I never heard him say a bad word about anybody”. Langdon Gilkey, who also survived the camp and became a prominent theologian in his native America, said of Liddell: “Often in an evening I would see him bent over a chessboard or a model boat, or directing some sort of square dance – absorbed, weary and interested, pouring all of himself into this effort to capture the imagination of these penned-up youths. He was overflowing with good humour and love for life, and with enthusiasm and charm. It is rare indeed that a person has the good fortune to meet a saint, but he came as close to it as anyone I have ever known.

Liddell died on February 21, 1945 of an inoperable brain tumor, five months before the camp in which he was interned was liberated. Liddell’s impact on others continued long after his death, including in 2008, when something new was discovered about the missionary.

In 2008, just before the Beijing Olympics, Chinese authorities revealed that Liddell had refused an opportunity to leave the camp, and instead gave his place to a pregnant woman. Apparently, the Japanese and British, with Churchill’s approval, had agreed upon a prisoner exchange. News of this final act of sacrifice surprised even his family members.

Just before he died, a fellow missionary overheard Liddell speak these last words:

“It’s complete surrender”, in reference to how he had given his life to his God.

Is it any wonder God honored Eric Liddell? No, nor should it be surprising when God honors you or me when we honor Him. The question is, “Will we honor Him?” Do we have enough love for Him to completely surrender, as Liddell did? Or, do we care too much for our own plans and passions, thereby kicking God to the curb?

Who do you really honor? Yourself or the Savior? You know, and if it’s you that you honor, it’s time to re-align your priorities. Otherwise, the second half of 1 Samuel 2:30 will apply to you.