Date: March 14, 2010 10:26 PM
Topic: +DEV+ The End of Life’s Journey
The End of Life’s Journey
“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord...will award to me.” (2 Timothy 4:7-8)
Scripture Focus: 2 Timothy 4:1-8
Marathon races commemorate the 24.85-mile run of Pheidippides in 490 B.C., from a battlefield near Marathon, Greece to Athens to deliver the exciting news that the Greeks had defeated the Persians.
As the apostle Paul neared the end of his life, he looked back on his journey as a completed marathon. “I have finished the race,” he said. God had marked out the course Paul pursued, and he never deviated from it. From start to finish, he kept his eye on the goal of completing God’s will.
He looked back on his apostolic ministry with the satisfaction of having “fought the good fight.” The Christian life is not for the faint of heart. It involves struggles. But the dedicated believer puts up a good fight in the strength of the Lord and emerges as a victor. Paul also had “kept the faith” and had faithfully declared the truth throughout the Roman Empire in spite of severe opposition.
We don’t know how near we are to the end of life’s journey, but if we emulate Paul, we too will receive a crown of righteousness.
Insight: The Christian life is not a hundred-yard dash or a minute-long skirmish. It is a marathon and a life-long struggle.
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