Early in my life - there were times …when I just did not like myself! Listen…here is why, because early in my life, I was a quitter…I seldom finished the things I started and I made excuses for giving up!
But many years ago I came across two sayings that I have never let go of. Two sayings, that have radically impacted my life. Over the years they have kept my mind; my soul; and my body running when there seemed to be nothing but fumes in the tank!
These two sayings are simple yet – they have kept me hoping for the best, even after hope had gone on vacation! These two sayings have compelled me to get up and get off the ground when getting up was the last thing on my mind.
Here are the two sayings…not deep; not mystical or metaphysical…but practical and common sense:
“Winners never quit – and quitters never win.”
“Many have a good beginning. Few have a good ending.”
Did you catch it? “Many have a good beginning. Few have a good ending.”
This is simple common sense wisdom...that says “When all is said and done, it is not how good you look in the starting blocks. Instead, the deciding factor is whether you make it across the finish line.”
It is tragic when people start out well, but they do not finish well. It is unfortunate, indeed…that “Many have a good beginning. Few have a good ending.”
As important as it is to start the race, what ultimately counts is that we finish the race. Very few ribbons, medals, trophies or advertising contracts are given to athletes with good starts.
You win…in your calling…in your God-given assignment; in your vision; in your marriage; in business and elsewhere in life – not because you show up and get started – but because you are a good finisher.
My hope and my prayer is that in every area of your life – you become a good finisher…that you will finish well.
But this is not just my desire. This is also the desire of your heavenly Father…who uses the writer of the book of Hebrews to express His will for us to finish well!
In Hebrews 12:1-2, the author senses that this congregation of Jewish believers who are undergoing pressure and circumstances beyond their control - is on the verge of abandoning their calling; their commitment and their spiritual heritage. He writes to people who have started the race, but he is not sure that they are going to finish the race. Thus, in the 12th chapter, he persuades his listeners to finish what they had started.
In these two short verses, he gives four sound pieces of advice concerning how to finish well…the race that is set before us!
If we want to finish well:
1) Remember who is around us.
2) Remove what is on us.
3) Rely on what is in us, and
4) Realize who is before us.
Allow me to explore these tips on finishing well.
1. In Hebrews 12:1a - The writer exhorts us to remember who is around us. “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses.” Hebrews 11 lists the names of some of those who surround us. Hebrews 11 provides a catalog of people who have demonstrated overcoming faith—faith that survived in the crucible of existence; faith that flourished under fire; faith that knew how to hold on and hold out.
Hebrews 11 calls to mind such notables as Abel, Noah, Abraham, and Rahab. These inductees into “Faith’s Hall of Fame” now occupy the seats in the coliseum, which surrounds the track on which you and I are currently running the race of life.
The author of Hebrews says to all current runners – that is to you and me and every believer in Christ today - “In order to finish the race, remember a great cloud of witnesses surrounds you.” There are persons in the coliseum seats who are invisible to the naked eye, but visible to the spiritual eye. Those who surround us are witnesses, not just spectators. There is a profound difference between a spectator and a witness.
A spectator is someone who watches you go through something...but either cannot or does not do anything about what you are going through…they just watch you go through!
A witness, in the Biblical sense, is someone who has gone through what you are going through – and thus can encourage you – to finish – because they know that if they got through – you can too!
We can finish well - the race because in the stands we have some witnesses, not spectators—witnesses who themselves have dashed through danger and dilemma and lived to tell about it.
Witnesses are those who have been through trials and turmoil and have found out that the Lord will make a way somehow. We can finish well - the race; we can hold on; we can resist the temptation to quit; to give up and give in…if we remember who is around us cheering for us.
As we run, the witnesses listed in Hebrews 11 exhort us, but these are not the only witnesses. There are other heroes and heroines of holiness who have walked the earth since Hebrews was written. There are great-grandfathers and great-grandmothers; there are the sainted “deacons” and “mothers” of the Church of old…who prayed for us and taught us and if it had not been for their sacrifices…we would not have a race to run!
These and many other witnesses are rooting for you and me. And sometimes all it takes, is for you to silence the noise of your world – especially during this season of the year…get alone with God and His Word…and you may hear the witnesses in the stands cheering for you.
Check back next week...for part 2 as we finish strong in 2010!
