Finishing Well

Finishing Well (2 Timothy 4:7-8)

I served at one funeral, attended another, and went to a memorial service this week. The funeral service I led was for a ninety-four-year-old man who attended the church I serve. He served in World War II and participated in D-Day and the Battle of the Bulge. He served in his North Jersey church for more than 30 years prior to retirement in Ocean County. Even in old age, he was faithful to his Lord, his wife and his family. He finished well.

The funeral and memorial service I attended were both for Pastor Bill Raws, Director Emeritus of America's Keswick. Until he went to the hospital about six weeks before he died, he was still preaching twice each Sunday and building into the lives of a number of men. He served more than fifty years on America's Keswick's board, and more than thirty years on the Board of Philadelphia Biblical University. He finished well.

As I sat in yesterday's memorial service for Pastor Bill, the Lord spoke to my heart. He reminded me that someday people will gather for my funeral/memorial service. What will they say about me? Will people think I finished well? During a long, but blessed, service, I thought several times about my life and my service for Jesus Christ. I sensed a strong burden to live at a greater level of focus and desire to finish well.

Here is how the Apostle Paul viewed his life at its end. "I have fought a good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but to all who have loved His appearing."

Both men who were remembered and honored this week, a war veteran and a Christian service veteran, lived each day as though it mattered. They did not decide in their sixties, seventies, or eighties that it was time to think about finishing well. From early in their lives they focused on living with integrity and focus. I am honored to have known both of them. I am challenged by their lives.

What about you? Do you live with the end in mind? The choices you and I make each day influence the end of our lives. The man from my church and Pastor Bill finished well because they lived well-every day. You and I can learn from their examples.

Join me in committing each day to a simple goal. Let's choose to live each day in a way that will help us finish well. God's grace is sufficient to help us live out that commitment. - Pastor John Strain is Senior Pastor First Baptist Toms River

God's WORD for YOU: Psalm 40-42; Acts 27:1-26

Think About This: Souls are not made sweet by taking [ill tempers] out, but by putting something in - a great Love, a new Spirit, the Spirit of Christ. Christ, the Spirit of Christ, interpenetrating ours, sweetens, purifies, transforms all. This can only eradicate what is wrong, renovate and regenerate, and rehabilitate the inner man. Will-power does not change men. Time does not change men. Christ does. Therefore "Let that mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus."
Henry Drummond