“Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.” (1Ti 6:12 AV)
This may sound a bit weird, but the LORD woke me up in the middle of the night with these five words. It was loud! Not an audible voice, mind you. But His Spirit witnessed with my spirit these five words. I have been obsessing over them ever since. I meditated upon them first thing in the morning. I needed to know what that phrase meant and how it looked practically. Then I began to read some commentaries on this verse. Apparently, this is a reference to the Olympic games held in Greece. At the end of a race, a crown was placed. It was either hung or on a pedestal. The winner of the race would be determined by the one who gained the crown. The race would start and then at some time, the victor’s crown was placed at the finish line. This meant every lap the runners ran, they could gaze at the prize that was set before them. The only difference is the Grecian games had adversaries who could claim the same crown whereas the race we run is a one-man race. The point is, that we should run our race with all the ability we have, finishing well and reaching out to eternal life.
As I have written before, I ran track for a couple of years during my middle school career. I attended a small Catholic school so we were limited by the number of students from which to draw and compile a team. I ran sprint. I was not a marathoner. Anything over one hundred meters and I would poop out. I was the fastest sprinter in the school. Really fast. However, our coach thought everyone should be a marathoner. So, our practices consisted of five-mile runs followed by practicing specific events. We ran five miles about three times a week. For a sprinter, that was not good. One skill I lost was the ability to take off and fly. We were taught to run every lap, pacing ourselves, so that we might make the whole race. Then, with one lap remaining, increase the pace until the last hundred meters. Then we were supposed to pour it on and sprint to the end. This I could not do. Once I was in a rhythm, I couldn’t break my stride and increase my speed. I couldn’t press forward with increased intensity. I couldn’t finish well.
The point Paul is making to Timothy is to finish well. Keep your eyes on the prize of eternal life and let that be your motive for finishing with all you have. The older I get, the more I seem to understand this. The older I get, the more I realize my time is limited and opportunity wanes. I only have so many years left. My strength is diminishing with each passing year. Health issues seem to take more and more of my time and emotional energy. The things that I could do, I cannot seem to do. None of this excuses me from running my race and ending well. The wise old preacher ran his race and ended well. He ended up under house arrest and started a church while doing so. His life ended with a martyr’s crown and not a retiree’s couch. He may not have had as large and fast a stride, but he had one. He saw the finish line and he turned on what gas he had left. That is what we are to do. Our light should not flicker to a dim spot, but rather, burn brightly until the soul is extinguished. This is the end of all saints. How will we finish? Will we pour it on with whatever we have left? Or, we will simply ride off into the sunset so no one notices we are missing?
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