Finishing Well

What enables us to finish well in life? The answer is Jesus. He gets us. He understands us. Why?

Jesus was all man – he could touch people, he spoke with an accent, he could blend into a crowd. Yet he was all God – he could heal, he spoke with authority, he could change history. He has been remembered for over 2,000 years. All man. All God.

Jesus never sinned, but He understands our sin. He died for our sins so he feels them even more than we do. He was shamed, humiliated, treated like a sinner. He deserved none of that. But he experienced it. He became sin – every sin we have ever committed. He felt the guilt, remorse, and embarrassment that was ours—Jesus doesn’t condone our sin, but he understands it.

I would hasten to add that falling down does not mean we can’t finish well. It is what we do after we get up, pick up the pieces of our lives and move on.  In another race I was running, this one a 10K, I was tripped at the starting line when someone cut in front of me. I got up with a fiery determination and ran. Fast. Interestingly, I caught and passed the person who tripped me, and gave him a look. It was sort of a “you tripped me but I passed you” look.  Strangely, I did not see him at the finish line. But picking up the pieces isn’t automatic and it isn’t easy.

For those who seek Him, God restores us. Lamentations 3:22-23 (RSV) reads “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness.” Did you get that? We start each day new! Our lives don’t have to go on in the same way. There may be, should be, changes. 

I can get up from a fall in a race, but I can’t deal with my sin alone. “Jesus is the only one who can help. Let him. Jesus has the strength you do not have. He is, after all, your High Priest, able and willing to help in your time of need. So let him do what He came to do.”- Max Lucado. Jesus’ help isn’t automatic. His help may come from Him working through another individual, through a song or a sermon at just the right time, through a book we are reading. There is no limit to the ways God can work in our lives. Look for him. 

God is a God of second chances. He forgives us. Our focus should be on what we do with those second chances.

Photo credit © Can Stock Photo / Tawng