Every four years, the world’s attention turns to the summer Olympic games. For a few days, men and women from around the globe gather to compete against the best. Amazing records are broken and new ones are set at these games.

The four-minute-mile

Just a few decades ago, track-and-field experts proudly declared that no runner could break the four-minute-mile barrier. It was said that a human being couldn’t run that distance that fast. “Experts” conducted all sorts of profound studies to show it was impossible to beat the four-minute barrier. And for years, they were right. Nobody ever ran a mile in less than four minutes.

Roger Bannister

But one day a young man came along who didn’t believe the experts’ opinions. He didn’t dwell on the impossibilities. He refused to let all those negative words form a stronghold in his mind. He began to train, believing he was going to break that record. Sure enough, he went out one day and broke the four-minute-mile barrier. He did what the experts said couldn’t be done. His name was Roger Bannister, and he made sports history.

Other runners

Now, here is what is so interesting about the Roger Bannister story: Within a month, the Australian runner John Landy had broken Bannister’s record, but Bannister had the satisfaction of beating Landy at that summer’s British Empire Games in Vancouver. In a race billed as “The Mile of the Century,” both runners beat the four-minute time, but Bannister came in first at 3:58.8 to Landy’s 3:59.6.

Within 10 years after Roger Bannister broke that record, 336 other runners had broken the four-minute-mile record as well. Think about that. For hundreds of years, as far back as statisticians kept track-and-field records, nobody ran a mile in less than four minutes; then, within a decade, more than 300 people from various geographic locations were able to do it.

What happened? Simple. The barrier to running a four-minute mile was in the athletes’ minds. For all those years, runners believed what the experts were saying. They were convinced that it was impossible to run a mile in less than four minutes.

Roger Bannister ignored the barriers.

You, too, can break the barriers of the past.

Philippians 3:13-14: “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

Don’t let your past failures hinder you in your service to the Lord. All of us have failed from time to time. Some of us have failed many times. Abraham Lincoln was a failure at many things but he overcame the barrier of failure and kept pressing on. Moses failed at first. King David had great failures. The Apostle Peter failed the Lord at a most crucial point. One thing they all knew: The Lord is gracious and forgiving and will help us overcome the barrier of failure and give us another chance.

So forget your past failures and press on for the Lord Jesus. Keep focused on Christ and you will overcome the barriers of your faith. Determine to finishing your life well for Him.

Watch sermons and read sermon texts and other articles online at www.tomahawkmbc.com. Listen to Pastor Jack Ward’s sermons on WSIP FM 98.9 every Sunday at 10:30 a.m. Watch his sermons on his Facebook page, “Jack Ward.”