It’s How You Finish

“Seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins. Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble; for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.”
2 Peter 1:3-11

The 1936 Olympics in Munich, Germany, are best remembered as the athletic stage for the phenomenal Jesse Owens. Running and jumping like the wind, Owens captured four gold medals in the heartland of Germany’s Third Reich. Few, however, can recall who was ahead in the early rounds of Owens’ field event or who led at the start of his dashes. The finish, not the beginning, was the essential ingredient for Owens’ renown and remembrance.

Our Christian experience is similar. It begins with receiving Christ and His forgiveness through personal faith. That is significant, but we must not stop there. The testimony of the Christian is one which speaks of a growing, passionate, dynamic relationship with Christ. We are called not only to begin well but to finish well. Have we not known of an individual (perhaps it is you) who experienced God’s grace in salvation but, somewhere in the course of God’s plan, yielded to indifference or lethargy?

Where are you in the course God has laid out? Are you running well? Are you still seeking God’s face, still hungering for His Word, still longing to know and do His will?

“Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize?...” 1 Corinthians 9:24