i have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. [2 tim 4:7]
as we did yesterday, let’s read the passage and spend a moment asking God to reveal himself in this passage and especially in the second phrase, finished the race. what is God revealing about himself in this phrase? what is God asking of you and i? spend a moment asking for God’s presence to meet you and speak before you read on.
LORD meet with us and speak to us right now. reveal yourself!
what did God reveal about himself as you rested in this passage? i’ll be honest, sometimes it takes me much longer to know God’s presence than other times. sometimes it takes me much longer to hear God and see what he is revealing about himself. this was one of those times. what did he show you about himself? what is he asking of you in regards to finishing the race? wait on the LORD, listen, and ask him to help you submit to the Spirit so you can live in his calling.
if you want to know what he is asking of me – read on. what he is showing you is just as important or probably even more important than what he showed me. if you need more time to hear from him, spend more time asking, praying, and reading this passage over and over. he will speak.
finish. our God is THE Finisher.
when Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. [john 19:30]
Jesus took all the brokenness of this world and all our sin on his body. he fully paid for all of God’s justice against our sin as he drank every last drop of God’s wrath. he finished. and because he finished, we can begin and live and finish with God.
finish. we all struggle in this area. starting and carrying on in what God is calling us to is one thing. finishing what God is asking of us to the very end – is quite another. it is one of the great plagues of our modern culture. and that disease, has crept into God’s church. as believer’s, we are called to endure to the end (2 tim 2:12). as believer’s, we are called to keep our covenant of marriage to the end (matt 19:4-8). as believers, we are called to take the gospel to the ends of the earth until Jesus’ returns (matt 24:14; acts 1:8). as believers, we called to love without an end (1 cor 13:8).
but we struggle to finish – to carry on in the race laid out before us to the end (heb 12:1). thanks be to God, Jesus did finish. what does this mean for you and i.
first, it means we are forgiven when we stop running the race with God. when we pull up in the race, God forgives because Jesus finished. second, it means we now have the ONE who has finished and can finish living in us. the Spirit of Christ now lives in you. we have his mind and his power. as we submit to his Spirit – we allow the Finisher to live through us.
today, submit to the Spirit and allow The Finisher to live through you. where is he calling you to run with him in endurance today? where ever that is, run in his power. he will finish in and through you because that is who he is!
~ john ryan