“Those who love their life in this world will lose it. Those who care nothing for their life in this world will keep it for eternity.” (John 12:25, NLT)
When you compare the good players to the greatest players, there is one attribute that the all-time greats have in common: the ability to finish. Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods are arguably the two greatest of all time. Jack was a great driver of the golf ball, and Tiger had an incredible short game, but both knew how to close the deal on Sunday. It would be hard to say that Nicklaus and Woods were more physically talented than players like Tom Weiskopf or Greg Norman, but there is no argument to be made for who were the better finishers.
As we find ourselves wrapping up this four-part series about learning to live and grow triumphantly in the rest and comfort of our Lord, we must talk about finishing well.
We might start by affirming that nothing invested into the Kingdom of God will be lost or left behind. But in this life, such an investment comes with challenges.
The first challenge we face in living in God’s Kingdom now is that this life cannot be sensed naturally. They aren’t passing out trophies or multi-million-dollar contracts for being good finishers in the spiritual journey. The second challenge to this life is that it not culturally encouraged. It’s hard enough for faithful believers to deny themselves in living the Kingdom life. How much more unlikely it is that our friends—especially those outside the faith—will cheer us on.
And yet, we can trust that the spiritual treasures we are storing up will last forever. Eternity is a reality that is received today and lived forever.
Jesus said on many occasions that “the Kingdom of God is at hand.” The Greek word translated “at hand” or “upon us” is eggiken, a past-present word that implies that living in God’s Kingdom is available to us now. So, we must develop an eternal mindset and allow it to frame our value system. Once we realize that we all leave every accomplishment and thing of this world behind, a natural paradigm shift happens from a focus on performance and possessions to relationships and other people. It is in this eternal shift of thinking that we recognize heaven as our true home and earth as a foreign land to our new nature in Christ.
As discussed previously in this series, our mountaintop experiences are difficult to sustain, but the valleys below them are not. In this final valley below the Mountain of the Kingdom, we get the rest and sustenance needed to produce multiplying fruit, and we begin to treat people and things in the eternal manner with which God sees them. It is here where we are empowered to finish well, motivated by the hope of the remainder of the things of God’s kingdom that are not yet experienced—our future glory. So, as we reside in God’s eternal presence, we must live in a mindset of finishing well just as Paul wrote in Philippians 3:14, “I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.”
– Be faithful to the opportunities that God provides, and stay in the moment.
– Live with focus, sacrifice, and going against the majority
– Persevere in spite of suffering; press into the Lord. Know he will sustain you.
– Resist the temptations of the enemy; put on the full armor of God (Galatians 5:16-26).
In closing, this is an ongoing process. We have setbacks and restarts, and there are areas of our lives that are farther along in the eternal process than others, but we should never stop abiding in the presence of God and trusting the eternal process he began in us at the cross.
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Josh Nelson
December 13, 2017
Copyright 2017 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.
Other devotions in this series:
Stage 1: Beginning with Repentance
Stage 2: Establishing God’s Process for Growth
Stage 3: Maturity Leads to Sacrifice