Badminton in the Olympics... and the Gospel

He flicked. He lobbied. He smashed.

The entire nation watched with avid eyes and pounding hearts as the national shuttler Lee Chong Wei faced off with his adversary, Chen Long. Back and forth the shuttlecock bounced from one side of the court to the other. Lee Chong Wei was at his top form in this year’s Olympic Games. He beat his longtime rival, Lin Dan, for crying out loud! The gold was his, for sure.

Yes, Chong Wei was at his top form. But, Chen Long seems to be doing well too. In fact, better than just “well”. He was able to match Chong Wei’s shots, able to return all his best smashes, lobbies, and flicks. The world No. 2 that we all thought Chong Wei was going to beat was at his top form too.

By the end of it, Malaysia grieved as a despondent Chong Wei apologized to the nation for having lost the gold. I was shocked, and so sad. Here was a man who had trained so hard, prepared so hard, for the Olympics. “He deserved it”, I said over and over again.

I like to think that hardworking people will get rewarded, that sheer grit and determination will get us where we wanted. We champion Lee Chong Wei because he embodies all these qualities – diligence, perseverance, a never-say-die attitude. He is our pride because of that.

But here, in this match, we see how far the human spirit is willing to stretch itself – and yet, so horribly, also its inadequacy to hit the mark.

Yes, he did his best, he did a great job, he is one of the best badminton players our country has ever seen. But the truth is, he failed to reach the standards that were set for him to win a gold. 

We feel for him, because it feels all too familiar. The many, many instances when we thought we’ve done our best, we’ve fought tooth and nail to give our all – and yet, our all still falls short. It could be a sport, in school, at work, in our relationships, or as just as a compassionate human being. We can never reach the standard that we think we should be at.

When Paul writes that there is no one righteous, not one that turns to God (Romans 3:10-11), he’s not merely saying that we are sinful. He’s also saying that we’ve missed the mark, we’ve fallen short of God’s goodness and glory (Romans 3:23). We may think we’ve worked super hard, we’ve been a good person overall, we’ve done enough good deeds – but are they really adequate? Chong Wei fell short of a gold because he couldn’t match Chen Long’s standards. When set alongside the absolute standards of a pure, holy, righteous God – do we too fall short?

In James 2:10, it is written that “whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.” It’s a tall order, but it’s exactly the standard that you would expect a pure, holy, righteous God to set. We may do overall good things. But who has not had a moral misstep, a burst of anger, a spiteful word, a lie?

On one hand, we might shrug it off and roll our eyes. It seems as though “sin” is just a result of stringent, over-critical nitpicking and faultfinding. But if we go along with this line of argument, we’re basically going on a slippery slope. What is okay then? What is the level at which someone can be considered to have “done enough”? I thought Chong Wei had “done enough”. I thought Chong Wei had deserved the gold medal. But it didn’t turn out that way.

On the other hand, these standards are too high, too overwhelming – they’re a cause for despair. How can any one person ever live up to this standard? We’re caught in a rat race of never doing enough, never being enough.

As I watched Chong Wei cry over his failure of securing a gold, my heart sank. I talked about his interview with someone that I was close to, saying that it was really sad to see him like that. This guy said in jest, “We need to stop mollycoddling people” and that what we need is a “stronger, harsher new bunch” of players. Is this the solution to our problem of “falling short”? To work even harder? To keep trying to be more, more, more? Or die trying?

Or maybe the solution is not an action, but a person. A person named Jesus Christ. He lived a sinless, perfect life, so that His good record can be counted as ours (2 Corinthians 5:21). He fulfilled every single point of God’s law and moral standards so that His people are considered righteous. All our life we’ve been seeking to do, do, do – when it’s already been done. He’s given us a righteousness by taking our penalty, dying on the cross – and ultimately defeating sin and death, being raised to life.

In Christ therefore, I have attained the standard that God has set. Not on my merit. Not on my works. Not on my efforts. Not by my best intentions. But by Christ, and Him alone.