Thursday, April 2, 2015

April 3, 2015

"When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, He bowed His head and gave up His Spirit." John 19:30

Max Lucado states that, "Our human tendency is to quit too soon. Our human tendency is to stop before we get to the finish-line. Our inability to finish what we start is seen in the smallest of things like: a partly finished lawn, a half read book, a letter began but never completed, and abandoned diet, a car up on blocks or it shows up in more destructive and painful areas: like an abandoned child, a nominal faith, a job hopper, a wrecked marriage and an unevangelized world."

Perhaps your life has been made more difficult by something you quit on and failed to finish. Possibly you have been hurt by someone else's failure to follow through on a commitment. Either way, you know the importance of finishing and the pain of failing to finish.

Jesus finished! That is one of the best parts of Good Friday!

If you think about it all the great heroes of the Bible finished what God called them to do. You will also remember that none of them reached the finish line without some blemishes on their records. Each of them fumbled a few times on the way to the end zone but each of them went in standing up!


Enoch finished very well! Abraham finished! Isaac finished! Joseph finished well! Moses made it! Joshua made it! King David stumbled a few times but he finished well! Elijah finished with a flair! Samson failed at just about every point but at the end he finished well! Eleven of the disciples finished as winners! Paul faithfully finished!


Perhaps you have stumbled along the way. Maybe you are struggling to get back up. Possibly you have fallen so often you are wondering if it is worth getting back up. Let Good Friday remind you that what matters most is how you finish! 


What is the key to finishing?


We know that running perfectly is not a requirement for finishing well. Finishing well requires running faithfully not perfectly. The most important requirement for finishing faithfully is being finished with the habits, the attitudes, the strongholds, the besetting sins, or the secret sins that keep you from finishing.


The main thing that will keep you from finishing is unfinished business. On the night Jesus suffered He took care of unfinished business so He could finish well.


He finished His business with His disciples in the upper room and with His Father in the Garden of Gethsemane.


Is there something in your life that needs to be finished in order for you to finish well?


Do you need to be finished with a habit?


Do you need to be finished with a relationship?


Do you need to be finished with a prejudice?


Do you need to be finished with a vice?


Do you need to confess a secret sin and let God deliver you?


Do you need to stop projecting an image and be finished with your pride and self-righteousness?


On this Good Friday, what do you need to be finished with in order to finish like Christ?


Will you confess to God, repent and declare by faith, "It is finished!"


Will I see you at the finish line?