Articles
...Finished
It was getting dark and the stadium lights had been turned on when the last of the Olympic marathon
runners staggered into the now empty stadium. It seems that he had been delayed by an injury. The winner had
finished hours before and now only a few officials remained to see him limp over the finish line. Someone
standing by asked him, “Why did you keep running when there was no hope of winning?” His tired reply was,
“ My nation did not send me all this way to run only if I could win. They sent me to finish this race. I could not
let them down.”
What character and dedication. His purpose was not to stop in the middle of the race. He had not been
sent to run only a part of it, but to run the whole thing. He proved true to this purpose and finished the course.
Late and battered maybe, but he did finish.
As Christians we too are in the midst of a race. It is a race we are not called upon to run ahead of
everyone else to win, but simply to finish. It is a race we are to “run with endurance” always with an eye on
the finish. (“fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith”) (Heb. 12: 1-2). The apostle Paul
spoke of the end of his race. “I have finished the course...in the future there is laid up for me the crown of
righteousness…” (2 Tim. 4:7-8). Paul saw the reward coming after the race was finished. It is sound to
conclude that if he had stopped in the midst of the race there would have been no crown.
Over and over scripture teaches the importance of enduring, of patience, of holding out all the way to
the end of our course. “so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised”
(Heb.10:36).
Becoming discouraged or facing hardship is something we all encounter. Sometimes we may have
difficulty with one another or too busy to run the race. Like our Olympic runner and the apostle Paul, we were
not called to run part way and receive the crown, but to finish the race. There in lies the reward!
~ Charles Hill (edited for space), Chambersburg church of Christ, Chambersburg, PA
