How Does One Finish Well?
We are at the end of another year. It is amazing how quickly each new year seems to pass. As we complete 2014, I want to encourage us to think about finishing well!
I have had a number of things that needed attention but have gotten piled up over the busyness of the last few months. Reports-- financial, mileage, etc. My filing in my office has been in desperate need of attention. There has been various relational contacts to be made, preparation for preaching and also teaching at NLSOM. If I work hard to finish 2014 well, then 2015 can start off on a good footing. Are there things you have put off or procrastinated that need your attention? I want to encourage you to Finish Well! Now I want to expand our vision to a “big-picture view”. As we look at our life as a whole, what would it mean to finish well?
Our lives are filled with many multifaceted experiences which affect us for good and for evil. Have you known someone, perhaps a spiritual leader or a relative who was quite successful and pleasant in their prime but they didn’t stay that way in old age. Have you known friends or family who refused to take care of their bodies and consequentially died early or suffered with needless disease? I have given quite a lot of thought to finishing well. It has helped me position myself to be productive until now. I wonder if you have thought very much about this as you consider your own future? I would like for us to look at 3 things which are crucial to “Finishing Well”! It is part, preparation; part, participation; part, completion.
1. Preparation: to make yourself ready for something that you will be doing, something that you expect to happen.[1] Psalm 59:13 (MSG) Finish them off in fine style! Finish them off for good! Then all the world will see that God rules well in Jacob, everywhere that God's in charge. When God is given the reigns, given charge of things, then it is orderly and it functions effectively. God rules well. However, we don’t always do the same. So it is important to meditate on this word: preparation.
a. A good start. Galloway’s Book On Running is considered the Runner’s Bible by some. [Jeff Galloway] was a member of the U.S. National Track and Field team in Europe, Russia and Africa. In the mid-1970s, he altered his training program to emphasize more rest and less weekly mileage, coupled with a long run every other week — a model that has worked successfully for amateurs and first-time marathon runners since then. The strategy helped extend his competitive career, and at age 35 he ran the Houston-Tenneco Marathon in 2:16:35.[2] (2:15.35 / 26.2 = 8.21 minute miles for 2 hours and 16 minutes) Jeff gives 5 steps to getting started with running:
1) Start By Walking (30 Minutes)
2) Walk Briskly (Check your heart rate every 5-8 minutes)
3) Insert A Few “Jogs.” (Insert 3-4 jogs of 100 yards)
4) Increase The Running As Desired. (Run slowly, avoiding discomfort until running 30 minutes.)
5) Step It Up. (Increase the time to 40 minutes 3 times a week, work up to 60 minutes once per week.)[3]
b. Pace Is Crucial: A good start to a race is important but the pace that will enable you to finish well is crucial. How many times as a novice runner, did I try to stay with the faster runners at the beginning of a race and find myself wiped out by the 1st mile. When it comes to life-planning, not many prepare to finish well. This encompasses many different aspects of one’s life. Paul writes in Acts 20:24 (NIV) However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me--the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace. Paul was willing to die to what he personally wanted in order to submit to the larger purpose God had of getting the message of the gospel of God’s grace out. God had a plan. We too must have a plan developed with the Lord which enables us to fulfill God’s specific purpose for our lives. It requires thought, prayer and planning to be able to not only start the race but endure the rigors of the course you will navigate and pace yourself to finish. Some don’t plan and fail.
2. Participation:
a. Train. Others plan but don’t train and fail. 2 Timothy 4:7 (MSG)This is the only race worth running. I've run hard right to the finish, believed all the way. There is this thing we refer to as “ego”. Often it can cause us to be unteachable and have to learn things the hard way through needless pain we cause ourselves simply because we won’t seek counsel from others and must do our own thing. As believers, our flesh is dead. It no longer controls us. We seek the Lord who lives in us and is with us all the time. He shows us what to do and leads us to train our bodies to submit to His better ways. Last year when I decided to run my first 10K race, I had only run for a little over 30 minutes at any one time. Now I would have to be able to double this time without stopping. I sought counsel from a man named Tony in our running club that has run many years and runs a few marathons each year. He suggested a training plan to help me get ready for the race. By following this plan, I was able to run 6 miles before the race which gave me confidence I could run the 6.2 miles in the 10K race. I assure you I would not have been able to complete that race unless I had trained for it. Now let’s apply that to our spiritual walk. Jesus gives us opportunities to train for how He will use us in the future. Long before it was prophesied that I would lead apostolic teams to other nations, I was in training. Would I trust God for the resources to pay my bills, New Life’s bills, pay off our mortgage, replace a roof on the barn and the New Life House. Would I take steps of faith to obey when it seemed hard? Would I quit when almost everyone I had counted on for years decided to leave? By His grace I stayed under this pressure and allowed Him to train me to run a 10K race. Will you stay in training, seeking the Lord’s direction and obeying, walking in faith when it seems impossible? When the situation is impossible, God is probably involved. Get excited and stay under training.
b. Develop Discipline. Paul writes in1 Corinthians 9:27 (NLT) I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified. Again, Paul said, “I discipline myself”. We have choices, to live a discipline life, to be a radical, global disciple or to just loaf through life, doing nothing. No, we discipline ourselves to seek the Lord, to be in His Word, to listen to His voice each day and walk in His training. So many times when I wanted to give up before that 10K race, I would say to myself, “No, I am in training!” and I kept going.
3. Procure The Completion: Others don’t have the mental toughness required to run the race until the end.
a. Perseverance is required, without it, nothing is accomplished nor finished. Hebrews 12:1 (NIV) Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
b. Overcoming adversity is crucial for you will surely have many things happen which will require you to give up before the end. Run to finish, run to win, but run!
c. Train to get better. Once you are ready to finish the race, train to win the race. 1 Corinthians 9:24 (NLT) Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! You may not be the fastest person in the race but you may be in your age group. So often we accept limits which are simply training obstacles which are there to overcome. We are over-comers! Our adversary is defeated, we simply have to believe this and reach the goal the Lord has for us to reach.
· Girl Falls But Rises and Wins her race:
Video Clip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsOBaV_93yQ
· Finish Well! Never give up while there is still time. The devil may have told you that you are too old, or too young, or unqualified, etc., etc. What does God say? He says He loves you and believes in you. He says you are valuable. He says that you are stronger than you think. He sees the potential in you if you will only train and discipline yourself to be a radical, global disciple. What do you need to do in your own life to finish well? Let’s finish 2014 well so we can enter into 2015 as victorious, radical global disciples!
[1] Merriam Webster Dictionary.
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Galloway, Downloaded 12-26-2014
[3] Galloway’s Book On Running, Jeff Galloway, Shelter Publication, Inc., p. 35.