“For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day – and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for His appearing.” (II Timothy 4:6-8)
Since being saved by Jesus on the Damascus road, Paul’s life to the point of his last known letter from a Roman prison looked like an amazing race. He had been given a plan, he had a focus, and he aimed to finish. “God has chosen me to take His Good News to the Gentiles and to share His great love with anyone who will listen.” What a plan the Lord had for Paul! And God knew in advance it would not be easy. “This man is My chosen instrument to carry My name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for My name.” (Acts 9:15-16)
Paul’s focus was Jesus, his Savior and King. Jesus is what the race is all about; He is the goal. “Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith….” (Hebrews 12:1-2)
The finish is in God’s hands. Paul must have known he was near death as he wrote to Timothy. Many times he had come close to death, but the Lord rescued him. Now, as he sensed his earthly race was ending, there did not seem to be sadness or regret. Instead, there was anticipation of what was to come. “To live is Christ and to die is gain.” (Philippians 1:21)
After taking the twenty-first pill of a three-week chemo cycle, I told Susan last week I felt like I had just run a marathon. In fifteen years, this is the ninth major treatment we’ve embraced to combat the blood cancer, multiple myeloma. God has enabled doctors to discover new and different plans of attack, and though there is still no cure, we are thankful for all the progress made. My last treatment was a trial drug that gave me two cancer-free years. I had to get an infusion once a month, which impacted me only a couple of days. I loved that schedule, but as always, the disease figured out a way to resist and the cancer gained the upper hand.
This new regimen is going to take some getting used to, as it calls for cycles of three weeks on the meds with one week off. I have to focus on the One who endured the cross. The Holy Spirit helps us; I know this full well. He speaks to me through the sleepless nights and reminds me that ‘I can do all things through Christ.’ Jesus also uses members of His Body to encourage and help and strengthen. I don’t think we can run the race alone.
A dear friend, who endures much more difficulty than me, lives out the practical methods of perseverance. He shows one can truly ‘count it all joy’ in the midst of the trial, knowing that God accomplishes things we cannot see. He not only fixes his eyes on Christ, but he invites surrounding men and women and boys and girls to know that Jesus is real. My friend shows me you can laugh at the pain. This is not being flippant; his pain is real and few I know could endure it, but just as Jesus scorned the shame of the cross for the joy set before Him, so we can remember the promises ahead. Eternal life is to come. “Think about the future! What are we going to be doing two hundred years from now, Dana?” he recently asked. “We can’t imagine what the Father has planned!”
Let’s run well.
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” (James 1:2-4)