THE HOME STRETCH

Zechariah 9:1-17; Revelation 17:1-18; Psalm 145:1-21; Proverbs 30:32

“Because of the covenant I made with you, sealed with blood, I will free your prisoners from death in a waterless dungeon. Come back to the place of safety, all you prisoners who still have hope! I promise this very day that I will repay two blessings for each of your troubles…. On that day the Lord their God will rescue his people, just as a shepherd rescues his sheep. They will sparkle in his land like jewels in a crown. How wonderful and beautiful they will be! The young men will thrive on abundant grain, and the young women will flourish on new wine.”

‘The ten horns of the beast are ten kings who have not yet risen to power. They will be appointed to their kingdoms for one brief moment to reign with the beast. They will all agree to give him their power and authority. Together they will go to war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will defeat them because he is Lord of all lords and King of all kings. And his called and chosen and faithful ones will be with him.”

“I will exalt you, my God and King, and praise your name forever and ever. I will praise you every day; yes, I will praise you forever. Great is the Lord! He is most worthy of praise! No one can measure his greatness.”

“If you have been a fool by being proud or plotting evil, cover your mouth in shame.”

There is a well-recognized phenomenon in running circles. The closer we get to the finish line, the faster and harder we go. It’s called a kick, and as I’m nearing the end of my one year journey through the Bible, I must keep reminding myself to stay on pace and not race ahead. In the heat of the “kick,” I don’t want to miss anything, even as badly as I want to finish. I’ll be honest. I’m ready to be done. My wife will appreciate having the two hours a night back to talk and be with me. (Throughout all of this, she has been an absolute saint, allowing me guilt free time to complete what we both somehow knew I had to do.) Other opportunities have arisen which will require the time I’ve been giving this project. But mainly, I just need a bit of a break, a rest from the intensity of analyzing and applying Scripture so intentionally on a daily basis. I just want to enjoy reading again. And I think God’s perfectly OK with that, because God is about discipleship and action, but God is also about contemplation and sanctuary. The Lord does not view success as we do. He values balance more than we do. He recognizes what we frequently forget: at the end of the day, if we care more about finishing than being close to Him, something is terribly wrong.

I’ve known a number of folks who have labored well and long, only to lose focus in the home stretch and compromise their entire mission as a result. Most often, this results from simple careless born of rushing the job. Fatigue can also ensnare us. But whatever the physical cause, it almost always comes down to the same thing – a lack of continued consideration for the particulars of the journey. There is such a thing as becoming too centered on an ultimate goal. If we focus only on the finish line, like as not, we will stumble over some nondescript obstacle we could have easily avoided had we remained intentional about just putting one foot in front of the other. Conversely, we can misjudge the distance to the finish line and run out of steam before we run out of race.

I’ve seen several pastors fall victim to this very syndrome. Young and enthusiastic, each one had a vibrant and effective start. They quickly won the hearts and souls of their flocks. They developed visions of their own church, a career in the conference office, maybe a shot at bishop, and even loftier accomplishments. However, the more they became enchanted by the potential of future success, the more they came to resent all the little steps they had to take to get where they wanted to be. Their desire to leap over character development and patient maturity directly into unquestioned leadership, book deals, grandiose missions and whatnot led them down the road of eventual ruin. What they never understood or saw in themselves was that the more they resisted the process, the more bitter about the individual steps they became. Finally, one day, they each found themselves at complete odds with organized religion as a whole. Pretty clearly, the resulting spiritual entrepreneurialism is largely responsible for the proliferation of non-denominational churches and pastors who are not accountable to any larger organization, and that is not an entirely bad thing. However, I often wonder why, if what they found in denominational theology was so troubling, they did not stick it out and try to fix it instead of just doing their own thing. Changing courses is no way to win a race, but you can sure get lost in a hurry.

Christ teaches that everything happens in its time. He promises that, if we will trust Him in this, we will end up knowing and experiencing more than we ever dreamed or imagined. There is only one caveat. Don’t rush it. Every little thing along the road of life is there for a reason. We jump to conclusions at our peril, and may also jeopardize others in the process. But mainly, when we rush to finish, we often miss the richest part of the journey. Education builds on itself. If we want to lay claim to all the blessings the Father would bestow on us, the best way to do it is to savor them one at a time, each in its turn, even down the home stretch.