Finishing Well

Lately I've been thinking about finishing well in the faith. I spent June reflecting on Philippians 3 and things like this stuck out to me: "I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so somehow to attain the resurrection from the dead."

And this one: "I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."

And then I launched into Ephesians yesterday and was struck by the fact that God has given me "every spiritual blessing."

After reflecting on that one, I kept thinking of the song "Give Me Jesus" by Fernando Ortega. I downloaded it and have been listening to it a lot.

So often my mind is consumed by "earthly things" as Philippians 3 calls them. But when it comes down to it, Jesus is every spiritual blessing I need. I am so complete in him. I just want to run toward him, to know him, to "gain Christ and be found in him." To be more like him. To reflect him to everyone around me.

I don't mean to sound cheesy. I'm just more in love with Jesus than ever. The leader of my DivorceCare group talked about how post-divorce was such a rich, sweet time for her faith...and that is so true for me, too.

Tonight I was listening to "Untitled Hymn (Come to Jesus)" by Chris Rice, and aside from the contradiction in the title (I never understood how he can call it untitled and then put a title in parentheses), I was near tears as he sang the last verse:

And with your final heartbeat

Kiss the world goodbye,

And go in peace, and laugh on glory's side

And fly to Jesus

Fly to Jesus

Fly to Jesus and live

It made me think of this assignment I had in college to write a biography about a Christian role model. The rule was they had to be dead or "close to dead" so that we knew they finished well.

This made me think about Asa (I know, my mind is quite the path to follow), a king in the Bible (1 Kings 15; 2 Chronicles 14) who loved and honored God almost his whole life. The Bible says his heart was "fully committed to the Lord all his life."

Except then in the 36th year of his reign, a battle is looming and he makes a treaty with another king instead of relying on God. In his 39th year he falls ill and the Bible says he did not seek help from the Lord, but only from his physicians. Two years later, he was dead. A lifetime of following God. 5 years of turning aside, and that's how he went out. Asa didn't finish well.

But someday on my deathbed, whether that's tomorrow or in 70 years, I want to be singing "Just give me Jesus." I want to fly to Jesus. I want to always be as in love with him as I am right this moment. And in between now and then, I don't want to let anything distract me from loving and honoring him.

Philippians and Colossians Highlights

Past my no-screen time so I'll make this brief. They're pretty short books.

Philippians 1:21 - "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." I'd love to really have this perspective. Not just spout the verse off but really feel like every moment on this life is for Christ, and to really anticipate eternity with him.

Philippians 1:27 - "Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ." When you really think about it, that's a big call. To be worthy of Christ's sacrifice for us?

Philippians 2:3 - "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves." Nothing. That's a big word. On my best days I only do a few things out of selfishness. And those days don't come around a lot. But nothing?

Philippians 2:4 - "Do everything without complaining or arguing." This verse sums up exactly who I want to be. The person who just has a good attitude about even the crappy things. Unfortunately, it doesn't sum up who I am most of the time.

Philippians 3 - Really I just love this whole chapter. Probably my favorite in the whole Bible. It's all about how nothing is as awesome as knowing Christ, and that's why we forget what's happened and look ahead towards Jesus, pressing on toward him and eagerly awaiting the day when we will be with him in heaven.

Philippians 4:5 - "Let your gentleness be evident to all." See notes on 2:4.

Colossians 2:6-7 - "So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness." Salvation is about so much more that just "praying the prayer." Truly having faith means we're in a growing relationship, being built up in Christ. This is my problem with the whole "seeker-friendly" movement of the late 90s-early 2000's. Reaching out is great, but if there's no discipleship plan to go with it, all we're doing is maybe getting people to pray an empty prayer.

Colossians 3:23-24 - "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord not for men...It is the Lord Christ you are serving." I try to do this, but I constantly find myself seeking the approval of my superiors and co-workers. I want so badly to be really, truly working for the Lord, not for men.