Finishing Strong

From June 2005:

“For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise:” Hebrews 10:36 NKJV

Recently I was speaking with Gordon Anderson the President of North Central University in Minneapolis, MN and we were talking about this subject of ‘Finishing Well.” He made this insightful statement: “We have not been called to run a perfect race but we have been called to finish the race.” I wholeheartedly agree. It is very important to start well and very important to do well in the middle of your time, but how we finish determines whether or not we will live a life of rewards.

There are so many things that have to do with living a life of rewards:
• Being faithful. 2 Samuel 22:6 says, “To the faithful you show yourself faithful…” Dr. CM Ward use to say, “All it takes for a miracle to happen is for you to just show up. What a word for unfaithful Western Christians!
• Being a generous person. Proverbs 11:25 “The generous soul will be made rich, And he who waters (refreshes) will also be watered (refreshed) himself.”
• Living a holy life. “Pursue peace with all men; and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.” Hebrews 12:14
• Having a good attitude. “Let the same mind (attitude) be in you that was also in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 2:5
• And finishing well! This is the greatest key to living a life of rewards.

Here’s my encouragement for us to all finish well…
1. GOT TO KEEP A GOAL IN MIND. (Got to have a vision) Proverbs 29:18
-A generation of Hebrews did not finish well & did not enter into God best (the Promised Land!).
-Demas in 2 Timothy 4:10 forsook Paul and did not finish well.
-In 2 Timothy 4:5-8 we read of Paul keeping his goal in mind and it enabled him to finish well.

There is an interesting story about Florence Chadwick, the first woman to swim the English Channel in both directions. On July 4th, 1951, she attempted her first swim of the Channel. The waters of the Atlantic Ocean were bone chilling and a dense fog made visibility impossible. After 15 hours within ½ mile of her goal she gave up. She told reporters if she could have seen the land she probably would have made it. But she tried again and in fact broke the men’s record by 2 hours (we know ladies, God created a man and said, “I can do better and created a woman)! Anyhow, she said even though it was foggy again on her second try she made it because “I kept reminding myself the land was there.” This demonstrates the power of keeping a goal in mind.

This is what I have to do when I ride on my birthday a mile for each year of my age (I am at least 30 years of age for those who don’t know me!). It gets tiring in the hot July sun and humidity but I know the satisfaction of crossing the finishing line in the church parking lot and the incredible satisfaction of raising thousands of dollars for the cause of worldwide missions! The rewards are worth the pain and keeping a goal in mind helps me to finish well. I am so glad Jesus finished well! See Hebrews 12:1-2

2. GOT TO HAVE A GOOD NAME IN YOUR HEART.
“A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches. Loving favor rather than silver and gold.” Proverbs 22:1

I was discussing this idea of finishing well with Lois Owens our Senior Saints Pastor and she said, “If I ever got fired from a job (she never has and don’t worry Lois you won’t!) I would be the best employee in the world my last two weeks or however long I was on the job, just to protect my good name.”

There are things we do not because they are convenient or we necessarily feel like doing them but in order to finish well with rewards we do them for the sake of our own personal good name, the good name of the local church and most of all the good Name of our Savior!

3. GOT TO HAVE GUTS IN YOUR BELLY! (Sorry)
Notice the order of our text in Hebrews 10:36:
a. Endurance
b. Do God’s work and will.
c. Then we get the promise, the blessing.
We like the blessing right away, maybe do the will of God but we sure don’t like the endurance thing. There are so many Christian quitters—it is sad! Jesus did not save us for us to quit or be quitters. He saved us to finish the race and finish it well.

I think the greatest story of “guts” I have ever heard is from the 1968 Olympic Marathon race in Mexico City. John Stephen Akhwari from Tanzania was the one predicted to win but there was a collision, fall and severe injuries. He was urged to quit and get treatment but refused. Bloodied and bandaged he continued mile after mile with excruciating pain. Four hours later there were only a few thousand spectators left in the stadium. The winner of the race, an Ethiopian, had crossed the finish line more than an hour before but all of sudden sirens blazed and the gate opened. Into the stadium staggered a solitary figure, the last man to finish the Olympic Marathon—John Stephen Akhwari. The remaining spectators rose and cheered him as though he was winning the race.

Asked why he continued and didn’t quit he said these powerful words, “My country did not send me 7000 miles to start the race; they sent me 7000 to finish the race.”

Tears come to my eyes as I tell this story again—I have it on tape and cry every time I watch it because it so speaks to me. Life and for me ministry at times has a way of beating us up with its endless demands—it certainly is not a 100-meter race we are in, it is a Marathon! But this I know, to enjoy the rewards I have to finish well and to finish well I have to have ‘guts in my belly.’ No matter what, I have to finish and do it well.

I could tell you the story of Derek Redmond in the ‘92 Barcelona 400-meter semifinals who pulled a hamstring and his dad jumped from the stands and helped him finish. I could tell you the story of the Special Olympics where one of the runners tripped and fell and everyone else stopped and helped him back up and they all ran arm in arm across the finish line together. These kind of stories really inspire me to finish and show me that many times I need the support of others to help me finish and friend, so do you.

How we finish determines whether or not we will live a life of rewards.