“Huddled together against the bitterly cold wind, they repeated aloud the Beatitudes, then lowered the casket into the frozen ground. As they did, Metcalf wondered, ‘Is this all that happens to honor such a great man? Is this all?’” Eric Liddell, Pure Gold by David McCasland, p. 282
The answer to Stephen Metcalf’s question is “NO.” He was a fellow prisoner with Eric in the Japanese prison camp for civilians during WWII. One great promise of God is found in I Samuel 2:30: “…those who honor me I will honor….”
It seems that heaven has decided that this life will not be forgotten. A Google search for “Eric Liddell” yields about 430,000 results and YouTube about 26,800. There are numerable excellent biographies on his life. He was the protagonist in the 1981 Oscar winning movie Chariots of Fire, filmed many years after Eric’s death. Children can be inspired with the cartoon versions of Liddell’s life on YouTube. Amazing!
Eric Liddell (pronounced “little”) lived an interesting yet painful life, painful through separation from his families. Eric was born to missionary parents in China in 1902. At age six, he and his older brother were placed in a boarding school in Scotland. There he grew up without his parents, sister, and younger brother. After college he left for China as a missionary himself, but his father had suffered a stroke and left China. Their separation from each other continued.
Liddell had a happy marriage that was interrupted by separation when Eric was held in a war camp in China. He celebrated his tenth wedding anniversary there in the camp without his bride; he never saw the youngest of their three daughters. He died of a brain tumor as a war prisoner February 21, 1945.
During college days, Eric became famous as “The Flying Scotsman” who won an Olympic gold medal in 1924. Eric Metaxas has done an excellent job in his book, Seven Men and the Secret of Their Greatness, recounting how Liddell should not have won, but he did.
Many of us can hum the theme song of Chariots of Fire, but Liddell would probably prefer that we hum his favorite hymn, “Be Still My Soul” and live up to its lyrics. The books or booklets he authored provide glimpses of his deep devotion to the will of God. He left behind The Sermon on the Mount: Notes for Sunday School Teachers (1937); Prayers for Daily Use (1942); and Discipleship (1942). Below are a few samples from his pen to serve as guideposts along our race. They all come from Eric Liddell, Pure Gold by David McCasland. (Grand Rapids: Discovery House Publishers), 2001.
From the year-long devotional, Discileship, in the “Victorious Living” section:
Victory over all circumstances of life comes not by might, nor by power, but by a practical confidence in God and by allowing His Spirit to dwell in our hearts and control our actions and emotions.
Learn in the days of ease and comfort, to think in terms of the prayer that follows, so that when the days of hardship come, you will be fully prepared and equipped to meet them.
“Father, I pray that no circumstances however bitter or however long drawn out, may cause me to break Thy Law, the Law of Love to Thee and to my neighbor. That I may not become resentful, have hurt feelings, hate or become embittered by life’s experiences, but that in and through all I may see Thy guiding hand and have a heart full of gratitude for Thy daily mercy, daily love, daily power and daily presence.
“Help me in the day when I need it most to remember that:
—All things work together for good to them that love the Lord.
—I can do all things through Him that strengtheneth me.
—My grace is sufficient for thee, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.
—Now unto Him who is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever, Amen.” (pp. 246-247)
============
I Corinthians 13:4-7
Love is very patient, very kind.
Love knows neither envy nor jealousy.
Love is not forward or self-assertive;
Love is not boastful or conceited.
It gives itself no airs.”
Love is never rude, never selfish, never irritated.
Love never broods over wrongs, love thinks no evil.
Love is never glad when others go wrong.
Love finds no pleasure in injustice,
but rejoices in the truth.
Love is always slow to expose, it knows how to be silent.
Love is always eager to believe the best about a person.
Love is full of hope, full of patient endurance;
love never fails.
–paraphrase by Eric Liddell, p. 302
==================
May, 23, 1944 – from a talk in prison camp church along the theme of hymn, “Gracious Spirit, Dwell with Me:”
Several years ago I sat in the grand stand at a great sports meeting where the finest athletes of the U. S. A. and the British Empire met in competition. There was an Obstacle Race in which competitors had to run around the course many times, jumping hurdles as they went. After several rounds the competitors were fairly well separated, except for the first two who were running within ten yards of each other.
As the first man took one of the hurdles, his foot struck the top of it and knocked it over. The blow was not hard enough to affect him much, a slight stagger and on he went. The fallen hurdle left a gap. It gave the second man the chance to fun through the gap instead of taking a jump and thus gain a slight advantage.
Ten yards behind means less than two seconds.
In the fraction of a second at his disposal a decision was made, he swerved to the side, jumped the hurdle next to the fallen one and then moved back in to the edge of the track again.
I can remember the thrill that went through me, and the answering cheer that rose from the crowd. That was the finest thing done that day.
He did not win; I have forgotten who did, but I can never forget that action. He could not act otherwise; he was led by the Spirit of Sportsmanship. It was ingrained in him, part of himself.
Sport is wonderful. The most wonderful part of it is not the almost superhuman achievements but the spirit in which it is done. Take away that spirit and it is dead.
The Holy Spirit is to the Christian Life what sportsmanship is to sport and more. (Emphasis mine) Without Him in our lives, even at the best, we are little better than Tennyson’s Maud:
“Perfectly beautiful: let it be granted her: where is the fault?
All that I saw (for her eyes were downcast, not to be seen)
Faultily faultless, icily regular, splendidly null
Dead perfection and no more.”
Or in terms of sport: --
A marvelous player, beautiful strokes, magnificent timing, perfect style, but no sportsmanship about him, Dead perfection, no more.
“Breathe on me breath of God,
Fill me with life anew
That I may love what Thou dost love,
And do what Thou wouldst do.” (pp. 272-273)
==============