Finishing Well

Super Bowl 2015 is now history. As games go, it was solid with incredible plays and comebacks. At the half, both teams were tied 14 all, but the third quarter belonged to Seattle as they racked up a 10-point lead, making the score 24-14. The Patriots were able to come back in the fourth quarter with two touchdowns—the last one completed with only two minutes remaining for a 28-24 lead. Just when it looked like Seattle was out of the game, Jermaine Kearse made an unbelievable catch on a 33-yard pass from Seahawk quarterback Russell Wilson.

As outstanding as the game was up to this point, it’s highly likely that everything but the last 26 seconds of Super Bowl 2015 will fade into history. On second down at the Patriot’s one-yard line, with one timeout left, Seattle elected to pass, and the ball was intercepted by Patriot rookie Malcolm Butler to cinch the Super Bowl win for the Patriots. The play was immediately dubbed “one of the worst calls in Super Bowl history.” Seattle’s failure to finish well undoubtedly will characterize this game forever.

The game was a powerful reminder that it’s not how we begin but how we finish that determines the legacy we leave. Starting well is relatively easy, but hanging in there over the long haul and finishing well is the real test. There are more than 400 leaders mentioned in the Scriptures, but only 80 (1 in 5, or 20%) finished well. Some are famous, such as Judas Iscariot and King Solomon, but some like Demas are more obscure. Demas was an associate who traveled with Paul but eventually got off track. Paul tells Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:10, “Demas has deserted me because he loves the things of this life and has gone to Thessalonica.”

If we’re not careful, we can easily find ourselves beginning projects with the best of intentions but failing in the follow-through. The apostle Paul took the Corinthian church to task in 1 Corinthians 8:10-11. They had eagerly responded to a request to send assistance to the church at Jerusalem, but they hadn’t followed through. Paul told them, “Here is my advice: It would be good for you to finish what you started a year ago. Last year you were the first to want to give, and you were the first to begin doing it. Now you should finish what you started. Let the eagerness you showed in the beginning be matched now by your giving.”

God calls each of us to a life of purpose and destiny, and He intends that we should finish well. There are three key principles to finishing well:

• We must receive and believe our prophetic destiny from the Lord (Jeremiah 29:11), for without a vision, we will go nowhere (Proverbs 29:18).
• We must keep focused on Christ Jesus and the destiny He calls us to or we will easily get sidetracked (Hebrews 12:2; 1 Corinthians 9:24-26).
• We must remember we are involved in a marathon—not a sprint—and must persevere to the end (2 Timothy 4:7).

Abba God doesn’t expect us to finish well in our own strength. He empowers us and gives us guidance through His Holy Spirit, and He provides us with human companions to encourage and accompany us along the way. Determine today that you will not allow your life to end in a bad call, but that you will finish well!

This Sunday I’ll be starting a new series on “The Light of the World” at our 9:30 & 11:30 AM services. Join us as I share about how Jesus is “The Light of Life”!