Those words, “I passed,” introduced a missionary prayer letter that our missionary in the Far East sent to supporting churches 20 years ago. With those words, he told a story about a member of their church who had taken a series of medical exams required for her to continue in her profession at a higher level of practice. He wrote: “She failed them. Instead of cutting back on her service in the church to prepare for her second try, she increased her service. She also added a three-hour Bible course to her schedule. Moreover, when two of those exams came on a Sunday afternoon, she did not miss church. The results? 1) Her influence among the young adults has helped move them forward, spiritually; 2) She passed her exams. It has been a blessing to be her pastor.”
Sharing a brief word of exhortation to the first-century church in Smyrna, Jesus encouraged this steadfast flock with these words: “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.” (Rev. 2:10)
Paul could say, on the eve of his death at the hands of a Roman executioner, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.” (II Tim. 4:7)
Fans of horse racing say that the greatest race ever run was the 1973 Kentucky Derby. Secretariat not only won, he gained speed the longer he ran—completing each successive quarter mile faster than the one before.
We may not get faster, but those who are “running the race” set before us are praying that the longer the race lasts, the more patient we will become, compassed about with a great cloud of witnesses who have run their race before us; laying aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us; running with patience the race that is set before us, and “looking unto Jesus.” (Hebrews 12:1,2) Let us run, then, getting stronger.
And, let us finish! David Livingstone was 14 years in Africa, serving faithfully, before he witnessed his first conversion. William Carey, known as the “father of modern missions,” labored faithfully for seven years in India before he baptized his first convert. He said of his work: “I am just a plodder.” But this plodder translated all or part of the Bible into 34 languages and dialects of India in the 40 years that he labored there. Livingstone and Carey finished well.
Robertson McQuilkin, the third president of Columbia International University (Columbia Bible College) passed away in 2016 at the age of 88. He had served in Japan as a missionary, planting five churches there, before returning to serve for 22 years as Columbia’s president. McQuilkin, at one time, expressed his desire to finish his course fully and faithfully in this prayer: “It’s sundown, Lord. The shadows of my life stretch back into the dimness of the years long spent. I fear not death for that grim foe betrays himself at last, thrusting me forever into life: life with You, unsoiled and free. But I do fear, I fear the Dark Spectre may come too soon—or do I mean, too late? That I should end before I finish or finish, but not well. That I should stain your honor, shame your name, grieve your loving heart. Few, they tell me, finish well…Lord, let me get home before dark.”
D.L. Moody, the evangelist that “shook two continents for Christ,” evidently was also concerned about finishing well. Asked to grant permission for his biography to be written, Moody refused and replied: “A man’s life should never be written while he is living. What is important is how a man ends, not how he begins.”
During the 1992 Olympics, British runner Derek Redmond suffered a torn hamstring in the 400-meters semifinal race, sending him to the track in excruciating pain. When medics came to carry him off the track on a stretcher, he refused help, hobbling toward the finish line. His father, watching from the stands, pushed past security to join his crippled son on the track, helping him to cross the finish line. Redmond’s cherished dream of winning gold was crushed that day. Yet, with his father’s help, he finished the race.
Our “dreams” may be crushed, and maybe some of them should be. But with our heavenly Father’s help, we too can cross the finish line—and, in the victor’s circle, hear Him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Paul’s final moments were with his head on a block as he waited the death blow; but, drawing his last breath here, he found himself There with that great cloud of witnesses, having finished his course. Can we do less?
“Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.” (2 Tim.4:8)
YOU and GOD 