PASTOR’S CORNER: Don’t quit before you finish

Leaving something undone is not always a good thing.

Now, when we joined up, nobody told us that the road would be easy. Running any race is never easy because this is not a short sprint; it is a marathon. It must be run with endurance and perseverance. This also applies to car races like NASCAR where cars line up at the starting line with engines revving. The idea is not just to compete, but to win because only one can be the winner. They don’t quit until the checkered flag is waved.

Having watched a good portion of the summer Olympics last year, we were often inspired by the testimonies of those who compete. They tell of how they struggled, had setbacks, suffered hardships during training, gave up personal pleasures, put their social lives on hold, put all of their energy into practice so many hours a day, watched their diet and got plenty of rest to prepare to represent their country on the national stage at the Olympics. Quitting was no option for these athletes. They had to finish what they started.

In any arena there is always the ultimate goal: win the prize. Some of us reading today know about not quitting like in pursuit of our husband or wife that we have. Men, we ran after them, competed for them, showed up at their house, paid for their dinner, opened the door of the car for them, all in the name of love… until we got them. Women wore perfume all the time, and looked good all the time. You fixed up until you got him. Both husband and wife accomplished their goal, they didn’t quit.

Anybody that have accomplished anything know that it takes work to complete the task. When someone does work at our house — painting or plumbing — or work on our car, we don’t want them to quit until they finish the job. Levels on the job you attained; businesses that you started to get up and running; academic achievement you sought; church projects like the erecting of buildings, choir anniversaries; growing in our Christian faith and trying to mature and become an adult Christian; working faithfully and being committed to the Lord’s work so that we may hear him say, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant” (Matthew 5:25) are words we are laboring in the vineyard to hear. We can’t stop, can’t quit until our work is finished!

There is no prize my friends at the halfway mark. Good intentions will not count when we stand before the Lord. Our work for the Lord is such that once we start, there can be no quitting. Quitting is not an option. We must complete the task set before us, but this does not just apply to marathons; it’s in anything that we do within our ministry of serving.

All Christians needs encouragement because there is temptation to quit in the middle and we face an enemy who wants us to quit. In the middle, there are lions, tigers and bears. There is danger in the middle; temptation around the corner, snares trying to get us focused on what’s going on along the sideline so that we lose sight of the task at hand.

Somebody said that “He who fights and runs away; may turn to fight another day; but he who in the battle is slain, will never rise to fight again!” Don’t quit before you finish.

But now pastor, who in particular are you talking to when you say, “don’t quit!” Everybody in the Christian faith. Somebody this morning is thinking about abandoning their tasks, but you need to understand that as long as you are able and have your right mind, your work is not complete. If it were, the Lord would have called you home.

Somebody knows that God’s work is a lifetime work. There is no retirement! No spiritual social security benefits here. Our reward is at the Judgment seat of Christ (II Corinthians 5:10). Paul said “do you not know that in a race (any race) all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.” (I Corinthians 9:24-27). The famous Isthmian Games (like our Olympics) were held near Corinth. The contestants had to discipline themselves and lay aside even good things to win a prize.

Community, if athletes can give up their rights to win a fading olive-leaf crown, certainly Christians can lay aside privileges to win an eternal crown! Paul did not want to quit before he finished; he wanted every one of them at the church to be able to say one day with him “I have fought the good fight, I have FINISHED my course, and I have kept the faith,” (II Timothy 4:7). He had a glorious prize, an incorruptible crown, a “well done” in his view.

Friends, hear me this morning. We are closer to the finish line than ever before. We are closer to the imminent return of Jesus Christ. We only have one time to run, one prize to win and one time to finish. We don’t get a second chance. Any moment now, any day, including today, we could hear the trumpet and the voice of Jesus saying “Come, up here!” (Revelations 4:1). Then the dead in Christ shall rise up from the graves and those of us living will be caught away with them to meet the Lord in the air, (I Thesselonians 4:16,17).

Christians don’t get off course. Don’t slack off the line. Don’t quit before you finish.