These past few weeks, I have been in a reflective state of mind. With my 60th birthday just around the corner, I have been taking a glance back at the life that the Lord has given me. I probably don’t do that as often as I should, but when I do, I am always torn between perseverating on my failures and being eternally grateful for all that the Lord has done in and through my life. Despite that duplicity, my overwhelming assessment is, He has blessed me far beyond what I deserve.
A LOOK BACK AT MY LIFE
Because I was generally taller and bigger than most of my peers, my parents thought I was ready for school a year early. So, they enrolled me in kindergarten at the age of 4. Even though I was a year younger than most of my classmates, I progressed through the public school system in Springfield, Illinois with flying colors and entered college at the age of 17.
After four years of Bible college, I was commissioned into pastoral ministry at the ripe old age of 21. About a year into my first pastorate, I met my beautiful wife Kathy, and we were married twelve months later. After we were married, we made the difficult decision to move back to my hometown to help care for my mother. What was intended to be a short break from vocational ministry, turned into an 11-year career as a government administrator and high school basketball coach. During that sweet and memorable era of time, I served as a lay elder and teacher in our local church and we began to raise a family.
As our family grew, my passion for pastoral ministry was rekindled and I reentered the pastorate in 1999. Twenty-four years later, my heart for serving the Master has never been greater. While I have had the joy and privilege of ministering to thousands of God’s people over my lifetime, I look forward to the days ahead. And as I press on (Philippians 3:14), I am reminded that while we are to be faithful, the Lord does all the heavy lifting. As His people, we can plant and we can water, but make no mistake, it is the Lord Himself who causes the growth (I Corinthians 3:6).
And while He doesn’t need us, He chooses to use us to further His kingdom for His glory. And that, my friends, is an immeasurable honor.
As the years in pastoral ministry have mounted, I have preached through many of the Pauline epistles. I think the reason that I am so drawn to the writings of the Apostle Paul is because of his boldness and unwavering faithfulness, amid hardship and persecution. He is a model for every man in active ministry.
A LOOK BACK AT PAUL’S LIFE
Toward the end of his days on this earth, Paul too became reflective. Tradition tells us that shortly before he was martyred for his faith in Christ, he wrote his final letter to his dear son in the faith Timothy. As Paul reflected on his life, he did so by offering three profound summary statements. He wrote, “I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7). Oh, to be able to say those words at the end of our journey.
Back in the 1st century, both the Olympic Games and the Isthmian Games showcased the world’s top athletic competitors. Because Paul was most likely a fan of sports, he was very familiar with these big events. So much so that he often used the events of those games as an analogy for the Christian life.
Since Corinth hosted the Isthmian Games, he used the illustration of a race in his first letter to the church there. He wrote, “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. So, they do it to obtain a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.”
Paul’s admonition to the believers in Corinth was they should be as focused and dedicated as those runners in those games. What a reminder that our motivation for serving Christ is much higher than that of any athlete because we run not for a temporal crown, but for an eternal one.
Indeed, one day each believer in Jesus Christ will stand before Him and give an account for their life of service to Him (Romans 14:10-12; 2 Corinthians 5:10). That should serve as a daily motivation for each of us.
To those who may think that Paul was somehow bragging on himself, it is really just the opposite, as his heart was to relay what the grace of God had enabled him to do. He made that abundantly clear in the book of Acts, when he said, “But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24).
So, by declaring “I have finished the race,” Paul was telling Timothy that he had labored for the cause of Christ and the furtherance of the gospel. He had completed the course set before him, and he had left nothing on the table. He was ready to cross the finish line into heaven.
A LOOK FORWARD FOR ALL OUR LIVES
Paul told the church at Philippi that while the race of the Christian life is often long and grueling, we are to keep on keeping on (Philippians 3:14). Not to selfishly win a prize, but for the Lord’s honor and glory.
We all have a race to run, and we are to run it in such a way that we may win a prize. But not to put our reward on a trophy case, but to give it back to our Savior in an act of worship and devotion to Him (I Corinthians 9:24). The writer of Hebrews echoed Paul’s words when he said, “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:1-2).
Sure, it can be profitable to reflect back, but we must never get stuck in the past. Instead, we need to keep our eyes on the prize and finish strong. To God be the glory!
(GraceLife Gazette, August 2023)