Let’s Finish Our Race with a Joyful Spirit   

As I tuned in to the morning news on the Fourth of July, the elite runners in the annual Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta had just crossed the finish line. Something unusual stood out to me as they interviewed the second-place finisher among the women. Unlike what I had witnessed in previous years, this 22-year-old runner wasn’t having to try to catch her breath to talk to the reporter. She didn’t even look like she was perspiring. She was bubbly, energetic, and appeared as if she could turn right around and run the race again. Maybe it was the uncommonly cooler temperatures and lower humidity that morning making such a difference. Whatever it was, it was a far cry from the exhausted, sweaty participants I was accustomed to seeing laboring to finish the race.

 The Apostle Paul talked about the fact that he wanted to finish his race with joy (Acts 20:24), referring to his walk with God through life and the ministry he had received from the Lord. At the time he was facing the likelihood of tribulations, persecution, and imprisonment. His future looked uncertain and rather bleak. Yet he was determined to keep going and to continue to run in such a way that he could cross the finish line victoriously and joyfully.

Is that how we’re running today? It’s easy to get weary with what we’re facing in today’s world. Our society seems determined to go its own way rather than humbly turning toward God and submitting to Him. Faithful followers of Jesus may find themselves being the objects of ridicule, discrimination, and hatred. The temptation sometimes rises to get discouraged, to choose an easier course, or to give up. The pressure and heat from the world can wear us down. If we’re not careful, we can find ourselves becoming negative, complaining, unloving runners who are just trying to sputter along to the end of the line.

However, it doesn’t have to be that way. We can finish the race strong and with a joyful spirit in spite of the hardships along the way. Even as some of us get older and draw nearer to the completion of our journey, the Bible says we can still be fresh, flourishing, and fruitful (Psalm 92:14). That doesn’t mean that we’ll necessarily have the physical strength we once enjoyed. It doesn’t mean we may not see a decline in some of our mental abilities or an increase in our tendency toward forgetfulness. Nevertheless, we can still thrive in our relationship with the Lord and in our daily journey with Him. Paul wrote, “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day” (II Corinthians 4:16). We may not have the physical and mental energy we once had, but we can still experience a close walk with the Lord.

        Back in Acts 20:24, we see that one of Paul’s keys to finishing with joy is that he didn’t focus too much on his trials and he didn’t hold too tightly to his physical life – “none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself”. Instead he focused on the Lord and on being faithful to what He had given Paul to do. We need to be aware of what’s going on in our world today, but don’t make that your primary focus. Keep your eyes on Jesus. Continue to do whatever the Lord has given you to do. Keep running your race regardless of what others do.

However long we may have left to run, let’s allow the Lord so to energize and renew our spirits that we finish our race with joy.