Devotion 7/30, Fight the Good Fight, Finish the Race!
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day…
2 Timothy 4:7-8
I am so thankful for Paul’s confidence as he faced his death. He is all but abandoned while he is in prison (2 Timothy 4:10-13). He is worried about the future of the Church (Acts 20:25, 28-31; 2 Timothy 4:3-10), yet he is also confident in two truths: (1) He has served the Lord faithfully (2 Timothy 4:6-8), and (2) the Lord will receive him when he dies (Philippians 1:19-21; 2 Timothy 4:6-8). Shouldn’t those two truths be our most important goals in life? Since they are our goals, let’s encourage each other to live each day for Jesus as we anticipate them coming true in us!
So how is your “race” going, how is mine? I am sure that you, like myself, have days where you feel you are winning the race and days you feel that you are losing ground. The important thing is to keep going on for Christ, He is cheering us on and waiting to give us our crown of life one day when we stand before Him!
Faithful and loving God, you have richly blessed me with salvation by your grace. Please strengthen me out of the riches of that grace. I am sometimes weak and falter in my faithfulness. I know your grace is lavish, but I don’t want to presume on it or abuse it. So please give me strength and courage to live faithfully and passionately for you until I see you face to face and share with you in your glorious victory. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.
If we truly believe in our hearts that Christ is coming back one day and that we are going to stand before Him, it will have an effect on the way we live our lives.
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