The Gold Medalist Who Chose the Wilderness

In July 1924, Eric Liddell stood on the Olympic podium in Paris, a gold medal around his neck for the 400 meters. All of Scotland celebrated. Newspapers called him the fastest man alive. He could have parlayed that fame into a comfortable life of speaking tours and endorsement deals.

Instead, within a year, Liddell boarded a ship for northern China to serve as a missionary teacher in Tianjin. He traded the roar of stadiums for dusty village roads. When Japan invaded, he could have evacuated — the British government urged him to leave. He stayed. In 1943, Japanese forces interned him at the Weihsien camp, where he spent his final years teaching children, organizing games for prisoners, and giving away his meager rations. He died there in February 1945, five months before liberation.

Mark tells us that immediately after the heavens opened and the voice of the Almighty declared, "You are my beloved Son," the Spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness. Not after a victory tour. Not after a season of celebration. Immediately. The same Spirit that affirmed His identity sent Him into forty days of testing among wild beasts and Satan's whispers.

God's calling rarely leads first to comfort. Like Liddell, who moved from podium to prison camp, Jesus moved from the Jordan's waters to the desert's dust — not because the Father's love had faltered, but because it was precisely strong enough to sustain Him there.