To the End

"As for me, my life has already been poured out as an offering to God. The time of my death is near. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have kept the faith."   II Timothy 4

 
I love reading stories to my grandkids. They keep bringing me books and I'll keep reading them. At their young ages, it's very common to go through the books in snippets. They'll sit still for only so long. You may get a few pages or right to the last page and "boom" the book gets closed and off they run. "Wait," I say. "I want to see how it ends." Occasionally, my daughter will walk by giggling as she sees me sitting there by myself finishing the little children's book. Endings matter. It's what the whole book was leading towards. We all like a good ending. 
 
In this letter to Timothy, Paul was thinking about endings, too. Specifically, his own. Imprisoned in Rome, his circumstances were leading him to conclude that his time was up. It's very natural to take inventory at such times. Does my life weigh well in the scales of God's will? When push came to shove, did I or did I not stand for Jesus? He told Timothy what he needed to do. He told him the cost of doing so. And finally, he told him the reason why it was all worth it -- the ending.  
 
Paul didn't measure his life by bank accounts and years. He didn't keep track of how many standing ovations he received. He didn't point to his children's accomplishments to establish significance. It was so simple and so profound all at the same time. His accurate and amazing assessment? I did what Jesus told me to do. Period. End of story. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tested

"He was testing Philip, for he already knew what he was going to do." John 6:1-13 Test day. I remember all too well the feelings of discomfort connected to that expression from my school days. I was so thankful the last time I had to take one. Tests felt so much like a cruel game of, "Guess What I'm Thinking?" with the author of the test. During one particularly grueling test, I noticed one of my classmates cheating like there was no tomorrow. Predictably, he aced it and I let's just say, didn't. It occurred to me later that I was actually being tested in two different ways that day. By God's grace alone, I passed them both. Philip was in the hot seat that day. Jesus, out of the twelve disciples, decided to single him out for testing. From all appearances, there was a massive resource shortage. Five thousand men plus women and children all hungry up against whatever money Judas had in the money bag. Philip was apparently incredulous as he emphaticall
Read more

Nothing Left

"'What do you mean what's the matter?' Micah replied. 'You've taken away all the gods I have made, and my priest, and I have nothing left!" Judges 17, 18 Unaware of some purchases that my wife had made earlier in the day, I didn't even hesitate to use my debit card at the checkout line. However, our bank was fully aware of all those purchases as well as the one I was attempting to make at the present moment. Clearly, the math didn't add up. Something from nothing is something less than nothing and that, as it turns, is frowned upon by our aforementioned bank. In short, the bank told the merchant there was nothing left and the merchant told me, "Declined." Micah was one panicked individual. His personal little self-directed and self-centered religion was coming apart at the seams. He had idols. He had priests. He had a shrine and even a sacred ephod (a priestly garment). All this, he thought, secured the LORD's blessing. When the warri
Read more

Who is Jesus?

“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” (Matthew 16:15, 16 NIV) What are your thoughts about Jesus? Every major religion on earth has an opinion on who he was. Mostly they say that he was a good man, a powerful teacher, and a peacemaker. All of that is true. But what about him being the Son of God? Peter, after being with Jesus non-stop for 4 years was confident of his identity. He was assured that Jesus was God in the flesh, the Messiah that was to come. You essentially have three options when it comes to what you believe about Jesus: 1) He was a Liar 2) He was a Lunatic (out of his mind) 3) Or that He was Lord If he was, and is, Lord, then he deserves our worship and our entire lives. If Jesus is Lord, it is true that we have access to God by His sacrifice on the cross. Join us Friday night at 7, as we reflect on Jesus going to the cross for the sins of the entire world (Good Frida
Read more