PrintFinishing Well
I want to end my journey well. It seems that there were a number of Biblical characters who started well and, for a time, ran well. But for some reason or other they didn't finish well. King Saul was just such a person. His life began with so much promise and ended in witchcraft and suicide.
I'm entering into the final stages of the race - at least, that's what it feels like in terms of my physical body!! The temptations of these 'senior years' are different from what I faced in the decades leading up to this time. Among the greatest of these temptations is the subtle pressure to begin coasting: that is, to depend upon the momentum built up over the years.
To adopt such a perspective is to invite inertia into one's spiritual life. It will take very little time to coast to a standstill. However, when it comes to the Christian journey, there is no such thing as standing still or becoming becalmed. Without forward movement we begin to drift and the only direction that we drift is away from God and from our calling.
The warning here for me is found in Hebrews 2/1"So we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard, or we may drift away from it". Col 1/23 says much the same; "But you must continue to believe this truth and stand in it firmly. Don't drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News".
I'm reminded of the fourfold purpose of my website - the fourth statement in particular: "To sound a warning for those who have surrendered their spiritual "cutting edge" in preference for a safer or more comfortable journey and to encourage them to re-engage with their high calling".
I suspect that I have included that emphasis because of my own awareness of how easy it would be to surrender effort in favour of comfort.
