Finishing Well

I remember my latter high school years. Night after night of hearing the muffled sounds of the TV as all my family watched sitcoms and movies, while I sat at my desk pouring over text books, and resisting the temptation to join everyone else. Over a couple years I lost track of what was new at the cinema, or the latest at the top of the adult contemporary charts on radio. I had to forego the novels that caught my attention at the library. I made an actual list of movies and books I decided I would have to go find after I graduated, when studies were out of the way. Yes, I determined I would catch up with it all later on, but that my studies were my priority at that moment in time. I disciplined myself in practical ways, using schedules, methods, rest periods and intermittent rewards to achieve my goal. It was hard, but every round of examination met in this way, did not find me with regrets when results came out.

I believe that this willingness to weigh present perks against future rewards, and to choose with the long term in mind, is one of our greatest daily struggles in keeping first things first. Yes, it is a daily uphill climb. It's known as discipline. And its rewards come in no other way. In a Christian's life enduring to the end and finishing well requires a lifestyle of temperance.

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted." Hebrews 12:1-3

"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified." 1 Corinthians 9:24-27

How important is discipline in the Christian life? Even Paul who lived a set-apart life to God, knew that the consequences of losing vigilance, diligence, and discipline could be deadly to his chances in the race of faith.

"But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified." 1 Corinthians 9:27

The thing about disqualification, as everyone knows, is that nothing achieved before that point is rewarded. Neither is there an 'honorable mention' given to a disqualified participant. What do you need to lay aside and get out of the way to keep growing in God? What good thing do you need to delay to make time for what's better? What temporary pleasure do you need to forego for what will last forever? It costs something to finish well. If your heart is determined, God's grace will enable you to pay what it costs ... The truth is I never got around to catching up with that list of movies and books I made all those years ago. I still don't know who's singing what out on most of the secular radio stations. But I no longer have that gnawing sense of 'missing out', and the temptations to let myself indulge complacency are tempered by greater understanding and experience. I keep before me the truth that at my last breath in this age, before seeing the face of my Redeemer, I won't be thinking of a movie, book, or popular song. No, I won't even care if I had never known what those were. With fear and awe I know I'll wish I'd spent more time getting to know Him and being transformed into the image of Christ, so that I lived this life fully pleasing to Him. I believe you would too.