“We are asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him: bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, so that you may have great endurance and patience, joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the saints’ inheritance in the light.” – Colossians 1:9-11
My prayer for you today is that you would “have great endurance and patience.”
The video was hard to watch even knowing what was coming. The seventh graders lined up for their first-ever 400-meter race. Each young athlete was positioned behind a blue triangle signaling their staggered starting positions. The starting gun reported, and they were off! My friend’s son held close to the pack in turns one and two. By turn three, two runners and he had clearly distanced themselves from the others. On the final stretch, he was giving all he had but maintained third place. They approached the finish line, and with three feet to go in the race…he stopped. He didn’t slow down or stumble, he stopped dead in his tracks. Despite the yells of his coach and his father to “finish the race!” he walked off as the rest of the runners passed him and crossed the finish line. The result? Instead of a solid third-place finish for his first race, he was disqualified.
Why did he stop? It wasn’t because he was tired. Most seventh-grade boys can run 400 meters and not even break a sweat! It wasn’t because of any great obstacle. There was no one slowing him down and every bit of momentum carrying him forward. Why did he stop? Because he reached the blue triangle…which happened to be three feet before the finish line. He stopped because he thought he had finished the race.
I think some Christians are disqualified for the reward of faithfulness to Christ, not because they get too tired to go on or because they face too much opposition and get discouraged, but because they think they have finished the race. “I used to struggle with that sin.” “I did my time serving. It’s someone else’s turn.” “Life isn’t supposed to be this hard. I must be doing something wrong.” The sound of someone stopping short may be different, but the result is the same… disqualified for lack of endurance and patience to finish the race.
Dear friends and fellow runners, don’t stop short! Finish the race! May God grant you not only great endurance and patience but also vision to see the actual finish line clearly so you can run all the way to the end.
Think These Things 