International
13 September 07
Face it!
Following the new world 400m champion Christine Ohuruogu's victory
in Osaka a few weeks ago she told BBC Radio 5Live's Breakfast programme,
"I don't really have much to defend myself for ... people can either
accept that or they can leave it. I've explained and explained myself to
two panels. I'm not going into all that."
She was addressing the most baffling, and to
many the most suspicious, issue. How come she missed "not one, not two
but three" drug tests before her recent ban? She forgot. Just as Tim Don
forgot. Just as many others forgot or failed to fully understand the
system - until Ohuruogu (and, to a lesser extent, Don) got the red card.
UK Sport, the body responsible for carrying out the tests, reported that
within weeks of Ohuruogu being suspended, the number of athletes
updating their whereabouts information increased by 350%. It is
reasonable to surmise that the whereabouts system, introduced in July
2005, was not being taken seriously enough by Ohuruogu and others in the
early stages (her first missed test was recorded in October of the same
year).
In Ohuruogu's case, both UK Athletics and the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, in their separate
judgments, said "there is no suggestion that
she is guilty of taking drugs". CAS added that Ohuruogu was "a busy
athlete being forgetful". In between the missed tests, and many times
since the suspension was imposed, she returned negative tests, so the
authorities must by now have a reasonable profile of her - compiled
across not months but years.
Fast forward 11 days to the BBC programme
Inside Sport and Christine Ohuruogu’s tone has changed dramatically: "I
don't wish to make excuses ... it was a big error on my part ... I do
take responsibility ... I've paid the penalty for a huge mistake."
She was so refreshing! Though she rightly
continued to insist on her innocence with regard to drug taking, what
had changed was that she was now explicitly taking full personal
responsibility for having missed the tests, with no excuses. She faced
up to the need to take full personal responsibility and to say so. You
could see the liberation in her eyes. First class!
God’s promise in Isaiah 55 verses 1-5 is
that his grace is relevant to every generation because of the wonderful
work of Jesus Christ, God’s servant who came into the world to die
because of our rebellion against our creator. He died on our behalf
because we were so guilty before a holy God.
Tragically though, we are so reluctant to take responsibility for our
sin and to admit our need of forgiveness. We cover up our sin from
ourselves, pretending we’re not doing wrong things even as we do them!
We bury them away, thinking that if we’re not admitting them to
ourselves then perhaps God can’t see them either! How mad!
This is why Isaiah 55:6-7 says:
6 Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near.
7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him
turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he
will freely pardon.
The work of Christ is received by
repentance. So we seek the Lord (6) and forsake sin, then return to the
Lord (7). It’s a question of telling yourself the truth about your
condition and refusing to cover it up any more. Stop it now! Take
responsibility for your wrongdoing and honestly confess it to yourself
and then to God. He knows anyway, but he wants you to face up to it and
confess it to him. Then he will forgive.
What are you hiding from him? What are you hiding from yourself right
now? Take two minutes to really consider this, and tell the truth to
yourself and to him. Say sorry.
He will forgive.
Then make a new start, with integrity. Be
liberated!
Graham
You are currently subscribed to International Email. To unsubscribe click here