Philippians 3:14

I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

     Runner’s will tell you that when you train, you need to finish hard. During the last 20 yards or so you should sprint as hard as you can. This prepares you for race scenarios. Imagine you are dead even with someone and you are just twenty yards out. Maintaining the current speed is not good enough. You need to give yourself that final edge so you can finish strong and win the race.

     It is very easy to finish poorly just in every day things. The other day I had to move boxes around from one room to another. The entire time I was bargaining with myself, trying to give myself a time when I could quit. I really did not want to finish strong. I started the project with much vigor, but I constantly had to talk myself out of quitting. Many times I will allow myself a “break” or to even quit and I never finish what it is I meant to accomplish.

     As Christians we need to finish strong. There are many good works that we can do for other people and for God. When we first entertain the idea it is very exciting. We dream up all the things we might be able to do. The planning stage is very enjoyable. Getting to work is another story. We start working and we start feeling drained. It was not as easy as we thought it would be. It is very easy for us to allow ourselves to quit. Instead we need to finish the good deeds we set out to do for the Lord.

I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.