Finishing
2 Timothy 4:7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:
This is a verse that I believe all Christians should desire to be able to say one day. While we don’t face the persecution here in America that our ancestors did, Christianity today is under attack. A lot of America wants to do away with anything Christ related, and continue to call right wrong. I want to look at three things from this verse I believe we need to understand if we are to be able to repeat this for ourselves. We must realize it’s a good fight! Everything that God has done for us it’s easy to see it’s a good fight to be in to spread the Gospel message. God has never let us down, therefore we should always be willing to stand for what is right. Notice the word “my”. Paul says, “my course.” Each of us has something God wants us to do. That should be our focus. When it comes to the things of God I don’t answer for what others may do. I will have to answer for God’s calling on my own life. God could use you to preach, teach, pray, be an encouragement to others, etc. No matter what it is you should do it to the best of your ability. Lastly is the word “course”. A few years ago I ran multiple 5k’s one summer. Each of those had a different course. You’d face something different in each one. Different weather conditions, varying types of running surfaces, differing types and numbers of runners around me. Regardless of what I faced the finish was all the same. Getting to that 5k mark. We will face many obstacles in our walk with Christ. There will be rainy days as well as sunny days. There will be people right there with you as well as some that want nothing to do with you. We should not allow any of these things to cause us to quit on God. One of things I remember about those races. There may have been times I slowed down, but always ran across the finish line. I believe we can look at Scripture and know the finish line is close. Are you doing all you can for Christ to run across that line, or you just limping along allowing this world to have an affect on your Christian walk. We could spend most of the day listing everything Paul faced, yet he was able to pen this verse to Timothy. Don’t quit your course today! With God’s grace fight to finish like Paul.
God bless you today! Bro. Josh Richardson