Finish Strong

This time of year can be very hard on those that have lost loved ones this past year. I saw many posts on Christmas of friends and family mentioning that this year was different than the last year because someone in their lives were missing.  It makes my heart hurt for them because I know how they feel to miss loved ones.

I’ve also seen where some people have passed away over the last couple of days, people I know and people I have never met. Life is fragile and we never know when the end will come for each of us. We do know that it will come at some point unless the Lord comes back again soon. So the question is: how are we living in light of that fact?

Unlike a race that has a finish line where you know how much further you have before completing the race, life doesn’t give us that option. It can be hours, days, months or years. We just need to keep running until that time comes. I don’t know about you but I want to finish strong!

The Apostle Paul told Timothy that he had fought the good fight and he had finished his race. That which the Lord had placed in front of him to accomplish had been completed and Paul finished strong. We have that same opportunity to finish strong or we can give up and quit the race that God has placed before us.

It reminded me of a sermon I heard a couple months ago up in Christiansburg, VA preached from the book of Philemon. The focus was on the last four people mentioned in the letter: Epaphras, Mark, Aristarchus and Demas. Of those four men, three finished strong but Demas did not. We know from Paul’s second letter to Timothy that Demas abandoned Paul and chased after the love of the world. He didn’t finish strong.  He lost sight of the race and chased after the lies the world has to offer.

As we come to the end of this year, let us make it a priority to finish 2018 strong. And let us make it a priority in our lives, not knowing when it will end, to finish strong. To complete the race that God has placed in front of us so that on that day, we can stand before God and hear those words that every believer longs to hear, “Well done good and faithful servant.”

Have a great day and God bless.