Keep on going

However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me. --Acts 20:24

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. --2 Timothy 4:7

Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.  --Philippians 1:6

My family has a long history of not finishing what we started.  It is said that in the 1940s my grandfather moved to New Mexico to farm the land in a federal land grant.  All he had to do was to stay and farm the land for four years, and then after that the land would become his.  Three and a half years later, he moved to San Antonio and got a job in a factory, because farming the dry, arid land in eastern New Mexico was just too difficult.  Later, they discovered oil on property near where my grandfather's section of land was located.  If only he had stayed on the land another six months, perhaps our family fortune would have been worth much more.

My father grew up near San Antonio, and when he was 17, he left home to join the Marine Corps.  When his three-year stint was over, his CO offered to send him to Officer Training School--a very nice compliment to an enlisted man.  Daddy thought about it awhile, and then asked when the training would begin.  The next OTS class would not meet for another four and a half months.  So he would have to re-enlist, wait 135 days, and then go to OTS to become a Marine Lieutenant, with the possibility of promotions from there.  Sadly, he decided he didn't want to be an enlisted man for another four months, so he declined the opportunity.  If he had been patient, he could have retired on an officer's pension, and gone into business or ministry with a bit more money than he had otherwise.

I, myself, have a tale of regret, to follow on the theme of poor decisions by Stewart men.  When I was in college, I entered as a music major.  I loved to sing, and thought that I was pretty good at it.  But when my first vocal teacher retired, I was assigned to another who did not like my voice very well.  I failed one semester of Voice.  To make matters worse, I tried unsuccessfully for four semesters to pass the "piano barrier"--a requirement for all music majors.  So halfway through my Junior year, I had a decision to make: I could change my major, or stay with what I had and become a "fifth year Senior".  I changed my degree program, and graduated with my class in four years.  Unfortunately, the only degree plan that would allow me to do that was the General Studies program.  So my undergraduate diploma says Bachelor of General Studies--not a very prestigious degree.  If I had only changed my major to Business or Law, and had purposed in my mind to finish the degree, no matter how long it took, then I might not have struggled so much as a young husband and father.

I pray that my son will not add his name to this ignominious list of inter-generational failures.

Looking back, it was impatience and a lack of perseverance that made us all miss the mark.  Today, it is much harder to develop patience and perseverance, because our grandfathers lived in a motorized, mechanized world, our fathers lived in the age of jets and rockets, and we live in an electronic age.  With each passing generation, the expectation is to receive good things faster, without having to wait for them or work for them. The old adage, "Good things come to those who wait" has been replaced with "Hurry up and wait."  That sentiment almost always leads to "I can't wait."

When wise old Solomon wrote his memoirs in the book of Ecclesiastes, he made this observation:

I have learned something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all.  --Ecclesiastes 9:11

Said another way, stuff happens.  Things distract us.  Circumstances beyond our control.  We make poor decisions, and time gets away from us. Happens all the time.  Our success in life is not measured by the goals we met, or the stuff we accumulated along the way.  In the end, the only question God will ask is this:

What did you do with My Son?

We either accepted Christ as Savior or we didn't.  That determines eternal destiny.  If we didn't, we are lost.  If we did, then the next question is whether we allowed Him to be Lord?  That determines earthly success.  We all can share testimonials of some mountain-top experience with God, a super-spiritual encounter that made us stand in awe of Him.  But if you are like most of us, you came back home, went back to your routine, and slowly took up old habits.  Bingo, we are all back where we started.  

This is what Paul had in mind when he wrote to the church in Galatia, "You were running the race nobly.  Who has interfered (hindered and stopped you) from heeding and following the Truth?" (Galatians 5:7, Amp).  Hebrews 12:1-2 encourages us further: "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and 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, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."

My granddaddy and dad are in heaven, cheering for me to avoid the same mistakes they made.  Jesus himself is waiting at the finish line to welcome me home.  Why would I quit? Because it is a little hard?  Look at what Jesus did--he counted the joy of becoming the Way of Salvation for us as worth the little inconvenience of death on a cross.  And I am afraid of what people will think of me if I pray before a meal?  Get real!

If you look closely at the image at the top of this page, you will see what appears to be a medal for participating in the Cowtown Marathon in Ft. Worth.  What it is actually comprised of is five separate V-shaped awards, given to those who finish each event.  When the five are pieced together, it forms the State of Texas seal.  It takes a lot of perseverance to run each race, and a ton of patience to get all five parts that can be pieced together.  My friend Mark Kent who has earned each of those pieces deserves a lot of respect for his accomplishment.  I couldn't do it; nor could I expect to be given a prize without finishing the race.

1 Corinthians 9:24 says, "Do you not know that in a race, all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such as way as to get the prize."  This used to be such a discouraging verse to me: surely there are others who will get to glory faster than I, or who can run the race better than I.  Does that mean I will not be rewarded by my Father in heaven?  No.  I may not get the laurel and the accolades that some get, but I will get a piece of a star in my crown.  If the others who ran with me fall away, that will not deter me from running hard after God.  And if we can all reach the end, and can compare our rewards, all of them together will not surpass the glory of God and His kingdom.  That will be what compels us to cast our crowns at His feet.

 

 Give me one pure and holy passion 

  Give me one magnificent obsession

Give me one glorious ambition for my life 

To know and follow hard after You. 

 

To know and follow hard after you 

To grow as your disciple in your truth 

This world is empty, pale, and poor 

Compared to knowing you, my Lord 

Lead me on and I will run after you 

Lead me on and I will run after you