Drugs, more specifically performance enhancing drugs such as steroids, have caused more than one athlete’s accomplishments to be questioned. Many think asterisks should be placed beside many records set in the last few years because of the charges of drug use.

Beyond the use of drugs and the inequity on the field is the personal risk of partaking in these substances. More than one athlete has died at a very young age because of their misplaced desire and priority—to be on top, regardless of the ultimate cost. While these athletes may have “won” for a little while, they ultimately lost. They lost the respect of others, their records, and sometimes, their lives.

But this desire to be “on top” and have it “all” is not unique to athletes; their troubles just happen to occur in the public eye. Lives are destroyed every day because of misplaced goals and upside-down priorities.

As it basically says in the referenced verse, what good is to attain what-the-world-considers “the good life” if getting there requires you to sacrifice your principles and beliefs? You might fool the world for a while, but that’s temporary; plus, you have to face yourself everyday—and you know the truth. But more importantly, you have to face God, and He knows everything.

By Chris Boggs

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