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Finish Line – a message from Mark
I guess that you will either be totally hooked by it or totally disinterested in it.
There is probably not a middle way.
The Olympic Games. Love it or loathe it!
Paul, the writer of many of the letters in the Bible, often used images from the ancient Games to teach us about the Christian life. He spoke about training; he spoke about dedication; he spoke about endurance; and, he spoke about finishing what we have started.
In a letter to a young Christian minister (2 Timothy 4.7), Paul looked forward to the time when he would cross the finishing line – his life’s race complete. As a Christian, he lived his life with the promise of heaven ever before him.
Because of his trust in Jesus, he knew that when the end of his life came (whenever that was) he would live with God forever.
Looking back on his ministry Paul wrote: ‘ I have finished the race, I have kept the faith’.
On 20 October 1968 Ethiopian Mamo Wolde won the Olympic Marathon. Over an hour later Tanzanian John Akhwari finished last, leg bleeding after a fall. A reporter asked him, ‘Why did you bother to carry on with a serious injury and no hope of coming anything but last?’
He panted, ‘My country did not send me 7,000 miles to Mexico to start the race. They sent me 7,000 miles to finish it’.
Once you have entered the race of the Christian faith, Christ expects you to finish it!
Be in no doubt about that.
He expects you to keep running, keep training, keep learning, and keep sharing the faith.
For every Christian there is a finish line stretched out ahead – and the line is drawn at the very gates of heaven itself.
Some of us friends will reach that finishing life before others.
Some of us will have spent longer running the race than others. But, for all of us who finish the race following in the footsteps of Jesus, there is a gold medal awaiting us!
‘Run the race in such a way as to get the prize.
Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.’
1 Corinthians 9.24
It’s been great over the summer to have the chance to do some work with Steve Parsons. (If you don’t know his stuff then its time you did!). His song ‘Finish line’ picks up what I’ve been stumbling to say. Check out this You Tube version.
Enjoy the Olympics -
