I had a discussion with a young man recently about his father who had recently died. He related how his Dad had been a very strong Christian all of his life, but that in the last five years of his life he just faded away in his Christian character and passion. He shared with me that he did a little research on his own out of curiosity, and he found that the majority of Christian men who have walked with the Lord and served Him well most of their lives don’t finish well. This fellow asked me why I was finishing well. I reminded him that I had not yet finished so it was probably a little early to give me credit for doing that. But I also said that I thought about this topic a lot and had indeed noticed that many quit running the race long before they crossed the finish line. My goal, I said, was to finish my life at a sprint, not a crawl. Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 4:6-7, “the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith. “ That is what I want to be able to say right before I enter into glory.

So, how can I make that happen, what are the prerequisites to crossing the finish line at a sprint. I think a key is setting and pursuing goals. If we have our eye on the finish line we will run until we get to the finish line. I am starting to write my goals for 2024. I start early so I have a lot of time to think and pray about what God’s will is for my life. Our goals energize us, they keep us focused, they help us overcome the weariness that old age is all about, they give a sense of urgency so that we aren’t content with just sleeping away our life.

I will publish my goals in this blog in the next couple of weeks and I would encourage every reader of this blog to send me a copy of their goals for this next year of their life. Run the race well, run the race with endurance, run the race until the end, don’t grow weary, don’t run without aim, don’t box as though beating the air, discipline your body and make it your slave, not the other way around.