Topic: Finishing Well
Contributor: David Loh
Date: July 2005

I've been an adult more than a decade now, well perhaps nearer two decades. And the growing realization for me is that we as Christian adults have been seduced by secular notions of success. We chase financial security and fortune, as much as our non-Christian colleagues. We may achieve success - but at what price? I see it at work - men and women who are worn out, who have chased their dreams and lost their families. The lifestyle and image we strive for is a media-generated, artificial standard of living. In pursuit of this good life, we leave a trail of broken relationships. Yet, no amount of success at work and business can compensate for failure in one's faith and at home. We can choose the rat race, or we can choose not to love this world and as Hebrews 12:1 says "throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles.. and run with perseverance the race marked out for us".

Many of you have eaten more salt than I have eaten rice, but even now my thoughts are of finishing well as the apostle Paul did. Many people start off well but do not end the same way, eg. Judas Iscariot, King Saul, Samson. But no matter what age we are, we need to be thinking of finishing well because we never know when our lives will end. Wouldn't it be sad if we step onto the shores of heaven only for Jesus to tell us what a mess we made of our lives? I just want to share with you some thoughts for finishing well.

First is the need to be vitally connected to God's word. God designed work; He designed marriage and family; all material possessions are blessings from Him. Therefore what better guide to have than His guide for living and life. Knowing the Bible is the only way to have a biblical worldview of life's many difficult issues and challenges.

Secondly, we must not underestimate the deceitfulness of our hearts. Jer 17:9 - "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure." Our hearts have the capability to convince us that we are doing the right things and to justify our actions. If we believe our own PR, we will go down. But the good news is that we have the Lord Jesus in our lives, the great cardiologist and if we ask Him to, he will expose for us the schemes in our hearts.

Thirdly, we must not overestimate ourselves. Rom 12:3 - "Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought." When we overestimate ourselves, we think that the rules are for everyone else and not for us - a sure recipe for disaster. Just think about Bill Clinton, Richard Nixon and even events here in Singapore. What is required instead is a lifestyle of humility and Christian servanthood.

And finally, we need to slow down long enough to think through the consequences of decisions we are going to make - the Bible tells us we sow what we reap. We can choose our actions, but not the results. Therefore, let us not disgrace and dishonor Jesus, but let us make the necessary course corrections in life to end well.

May we do as Lamentations 3:40 says, "Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord". Amen.

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