[vc_row padding_top=”0px” padding_bottom=”0px”][vc_column fade_animation_offset=”45px” width=”1/1″][text_output][su_quote cite=”Hebrews 12:1″]Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.[/su_quote]
Seasons Begin & Seasons End
New beginnings, I love them! I’m very much looking forward to 2016. At the beginning of each semester, I can taste the potential thick in the air. But I’ve discovered I don’t always finish well. Beginning a new season is wonderful, but finishing seasons is important too.
Earlier this fall at the world championships in China, a couple Americans were running a 10k. They both were running quite well, and coming into the final stretch Molly Huddle was third and her teammate Emily Infeld was a couple paces behind her. At this moment, I think they would both have been fairly pleased with the race they’d run, but what occurred in the final seconds was tragic.
As Huddle approached the finish line, confident of her third place finish, she began to slow up and even raised her hands in victory. But Infeld didn’t slow up nor celebrate a good race thus far, she was determined to finish strong, and her strong finish wasn’t just a personal moral victory, she passed Huddle to claim third. (Watch on YouTube.)
Run Your Race & Finish Strong
More than once the Apostle Paul uses the metaphor of a race for our life calling from God. It’s a great illustration; so many powerful parallels. (Hebrews 12:1–3; 1 Corinthians 9:23–25; Acts 20:23–24.)
We don’t want to run encumbered by various weights and snares (sin patterns/priorities). We want to run with the end in mind, in order to win the prize. Life is not a sprint, it’s a marathon, run with endurance and keep your eyes on the goal. And we want to finish, and to #FinishStrong.
An athlete can run very well for most of the race, but if then then sit down or walk away, that is a failed race. It’s important to train well, begin well, and continue well, but it is essential that we finish. Let’s #FinishStrong.
I know that 2015 is almost over, but maybe the most significant thing God has for you in 2015 will happen in the next couple of weeks. Don’t miss what God has for you today because you’ve already moved on to 2016 or next semester.
[su_quote]What does God have for you in the next two weeks?[/su_quote]
Don’t miss what God has for you this year. Yes, do think ahead and begin prepping for next semester, but let’s press in to what God has for us today too. Dig into the Word. Listen for His voice. Look for opportunities to love and serve and preach, today!
Watching the video of Huddle losing to Infield is a bit heartbreaking, and there’s an important lesson to learn. Sadly, it’s not an altogether foreign story, it’s happened before, and it has happened to me (metaphorically speaking). We are often tempted to coast when we approach the end, but let’s #FinishStrong!
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