“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” (2 Timothy 4:7 NIV)
How then do we finish well?... What does it take? Let’s start with grace. We finish well by the grace of God. That is also how we start the race. That is what keeps us in the race. And that is what takes us to the end. As John Newton put it in his famous hymn, “Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.”
When all is said and done, grace is the ultimate explanation for why any of us make it. We are kept by the grace of God. It is then very appropriate to pray, “Lord, give me the grace to finish well.”
From this foundation, there is more to be said. We have observed six characteristics of those who finish well.
First, those who finish well have a Christ-centered life. They know they are saved by Him, and they never get over it. He is their life source. He is the center of their affections. As Graham Kendrick put it in a more recent hymn, they know “there is no greater joy” than knowing Him. Consequently, they focus more on loving Christ than avoiding sins. They know that a vibrant personal relationship with Jesus and a daily walk with Him are essential to everything. He is the spring from which comes all spiritual fruit. He is the vine; we draw our life from Him. When we plateau in our spiritual lives, we must come back to Him and seek renewal. Why? Because Christ is “author and perfecter of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2).
-- Adapted from Donald W. Sweeting and George Sweeting in “How to Finish the Christian Life: Following Jesus in the Second Half”
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