The Weight of Gold (Who am I? Series, part 2) with Paul McDonald and Britt Mooney
Paul McDonald and Britt Mooney enter week 2 of the “Who am I?” series by diving into the documentary The Weight of Gold (2020) with Michael Phelps, Apolo Ohno, Shaun White, Lolo Jones, Gracie Gold, Katie Uhlaender, Bode Miller, David Boudia, Jeremy Bloom, Sasha Cohen, and, posthumously, Steven Holcomb and Jeret "Speedy" Peterson. We dig into the contrast between accomplishment and identity, and the difference between comparison and competition. We compare the weight of gold, the pressure of striving and chasing and fighting for our victories, with the CS Lewis essay the Weight of Glory. In it, we find that the greatest prize we can win is knowing who we are.
Join us as we discover God’s truth in this movie.
Quotes
“These athletes look at their medals and know their sacrifices were worth it.” What about the vast majority of athletes who didn’t win a medal?
If the world class talent is struggling, how am I supposed to make it through?
My accomplishments make me who I am. But there’s something deeper to life than these things.
Our culture has gotten to the point where our identity is fluid and has no security for people.
There is no health in comparing “me” to others.
The enemy twists what God has made.
The answer isn’t in crushing the desire to excel, it’s determining who we are outside those desires.
Jesus didn’t base his identity, success, or failures on other people’s responses.
The victory isn’t external. It’s an internal victory over something we can’t conquer.
The weight of gold, the weight of striving, the weight of expectations—these are burdens we weren’t meant to carry.
These Olympians spend their lives trying to reach the pinnacle, and when they do…Now what?
Our place in life is determined by placing the Kingdom first.
If there is a goal to be fully committed to, it’s knowing Christ.
If you participate in the Kingdom, God is happy to reward you. He looks for the smallest opportunity He can to lavish His love on you.
You can lose your life chasing the dream that you think you want.
The greatest prize we can receive is knowing who we are.
It doesn’t matter what place you finish. The fact that you run is the win. The victory is in feeling God’s pleasure as you run.
Themes
The weight of the world, the weight of gold, and the weight of glory.
There is a difference between accomplishment and identity.
There are things we are obsessed with, as if those things will make me happy.
The danger of comparison, the difference between competition (doing our best) and comparison (measuring against other’s performance). Comparison: Devil says, “You can be like God.” Cain and Abel, comparing offerings. The disciples-who will be the greatest?
The Weight of Glory—Five promises: 1) We shall be with Christ. 2) We shall be like Him. 3) We shall have glory. 4) We shall be fed or feasted or entertained. 5) We shall have some sort of position in the universe.
We base our identity on how we feel, on how others look at us, on how we think others perceive us. The New Testament term “saint” is the same Greek word that the Old Testament uses to refer to angels, and refers to all believers. We have a new identity based on Christ and His work.
The difference between fighting for (identity, love, rest, peace) and fighting from those things.
The idea of a perfect lap: We do the best we can, and can’t control what others are doing.
Michael Phelps is one of the most decorated Olympic athletes, but he didn’t know who we was. The greatest prize we can win is knowing our identity.
Resources
Simone Biles before the team finals - “I feel like I have the weight of the world on my shoulders at times. I know I brush it off and make it seem like the pressure doesn’t affect me but damn sometimes it’s hard.” (@simonebiles, Instagram)
Simone Biles after she pulled out of the team competition – “The outpouring of love and support I’ve received has made me realize I’m more than my accomplishments and gymnastics which I never truly believed before.” (@simonebiles, Instagram)
“Every day, I’m not good enough.” – Apollo Anton Ono
The Weight of Glory, CS Lewis
“We are half hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition (and gold medals) when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea.”
“Fame equals approval or appreciation by God.”
“It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, help each other to one or other of these destinations…There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations (and Olympic games) –these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit-immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.”
“Glory means good report with God, acceptance by God, response, acknowledgement, and welcome into the heart of things…I read in a periodical the other day that the fundamental thing is how we think of God. By God Himself, it is not! How God thinks of us is not only more important, but infinitely more important…To please God…to be a real ingredient in the divine happiness…to be loved by God, not merely pitied, but delighted in as an artist delights in his work or a father in a son—it seems impossible, a weight or burden of glory which our thoughts can hardly sustain. But so it is.”
“He who has God and everything else has no more than he who has God only.”
“Desire reveals design. Design reveals destiny.” -John Eldredge
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses [who by faith have testified to the truth of God’s absolute faithfulness], stripping off every unnecessary weight and the sin which so easily and cleverly entangles us, let us run with endurance and active persistence the race that is set before us...” -Hebrews 12:1 (AMP)
“If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law,[c] blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” -Philippians 3:4-11
“All we can do is decide what to do with the time that is given to us.” -Gandalf in The Fellowship of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien
If you or someone you know is considering harming themselves, use the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (1-800-273-8255)
Questions
What makes your sacrifices worth while? Medals/trophies? Something else?
What does success mean to you?
When do you feel like you are your accomplishments? Productivity? Schedule?
Where does your worth come from (honestly)? Job? Roles? Work?
If your accomplishments make you who you are, what do you do when you fall short?
What do you believe will make you happy?
How does our culture react to words as violence?
Where do you feel “not good enough?”
Where is your comparison trap? Job? Money? Vacations? Car? Free time? Kids? Wife? Friendships?
Where do you feel like you’re failing?
What desires have gone wrong?
Who are you, outside of your roles and accomplishments?
Do you feel more like a worthless failure, or a saint, a holy one? What does God call you?
What would be your perfect lap? What race are you called to run?
What does it mean to fight from victory?
What does victory look like?
Are you chasing applause in heaven or here on earth? What is the difference?
How easy is it for you to ask for help?
Where do you feel weak?
Do you feel pitied by God or delighted in by God? What is the difference?