Bent over gasping for breath along with 50 other 9th grade teammates, I can still hear Mike Fields clapping his hands together and taunting us with yells of, "Great day to be alive men. Great day to be alive." as he called for wind sprint after wind sprint following afternoon football practices. We were sucking air like a Dyson vacuum cleaner (a Hoover reference here would just be passe) and convinced Coach Fields was really the devil and that we were about to give up the ghost. He wasn't. And, we didn't. He was teaching us a valuable lesson. We could do just enough to get by and be also-rans or we could push ourselves to do more than we expected and be great. We did not lose a game that season. For over 30 years I still attribute our success to being the best physically conditioned team of all the teams we faced. In the fourth quarter we knew we could play as hard as we did in the first quarter. We finished strong.
Paul the Apostle finished strong as well. He said in II Timothy 4:7 that he fought a good fight, finished his course, and kept the faith. He had a shaky start but he made a great finish. All of the apostles had early set-backs but ended well the race for which they were called. Some doubted. Some argued over pretty prideful issues. One flat out denied that he even knew Jesus. At the end of their lives though, we find them being faithful and courageous.
What changed? What gave those men the ability to end stronger than when they began? I believe it was the power of the Holy Spirit. At Pentecost they and the others waiting in the upper room were filled with the empowering Spirit of Almighty God. Then they boldly proclaimed Jesus to the world regardless of threats, imprisonment, beatings, and even death. They were faithful to the end.
Temptations await to lure us to not take our Christian lives so seriously. Challenges arise that represent such broad obstacles in our way that could cause us to cover in fear before them. Both distractions try to get us to take it easy and not push hard to the finish. Sadly we sometimes do exactly that. We take ourselves out of the game. We sit on the bench and let someone else do the work.
Coach Fields was the heart of our 9th grade football team. He would not accept anything less than our best and that was enough, win or lose. The Holy Spirit is our heart to see the Christian life to its mortal end. He urges us to keep going. He convicts us when we offer less than our all. He keeps us from sin, if we are willing to obey, and He always points us to the goal, Jesus.
During that undefeated football season we made mistakes. We had penalties. We missed assignments. We gave up scores to the other teams. But we never quit. You and I will not be perfect in this life. It Goes Without Saying that we will falter and our faith may wain. Just don't give up. Keep pressing toward the prize of the high calling of God in Christ. You may not have started in first place but by the power of the Holy Spirit you can finish strong. It is a great day to be alive. Now go LIVE! And, finish well.
Because He lives,
Robby
p.s. By the way, there is a prize waiting for you when the race is done. Don't miss it.
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