Read with Me
2 Timothy 4:6-8 (HCSB)
For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time for my departure is close. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. There is reserved for me in the future the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me, but to all those who have loved His appearing.
Listen with Me
Paul was not an idealist, although he absolutely knew that God was capable of doing whatever He believed was necessary. He was very much a realist.
In this instance, Paul knew that his time on earth was quickly drawing to a close. It wasn’t that he believed that God was unable to get him out of prison and save his life. He simply understood that He would not. God had preserved his life over several decades, including bringing him back after he had been stoned to death in Lystra (Acts 14:19-20), after having given him a brief glimpse of the beauties of heaven (2 Corinthians 12:2-10).
But now Paul’s race that God had laid out for him had been run. All that was lacking was the final crossing of the finish line, which God was even then orchestrating.
In facing his final days on earth, Paul had no fear or dread of coming before God’s throne. Since that day on the Damascus Road when he had surrendered to Jesus, he had lived his life 100% to serve Jesus and to further His plan of salvation for the world. He had not faltered or held back, even when the fires of persecution burned their hottest.
So, he had no fear of being condemned by God when he came before His throne. He had listened to God’s voice constantly and had obeyed fully, doing His will “on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). So, rather than condemnation, he fully expected to be awarded the victor’s crown. He would not be the first to cross the finish line. In fact, he suspected that that title would already have gone to Stephen, whose execution by stoning he had witnessed and approved of before he surrendered to Jesus (Acts 7:54-8:1). But it is not those who finish first who are awarded the victor’s crown. It is those who finish well, staying on track and on task all the way to the end.
Pray with Me
Father, Paul really is an inspiration, a good model of how to follow and serve You in our everyday lives. He never held back, but was always on duty for You, continually looking for the next opportunity, always living with his eyes and ears fully open to You. And because of that orientation of his life fully toward You, he was successful and productive every day, all the way to the end. Lord, may those same things be said of me when my time here is done. Help me to live my life full-out for You, every minute, every day, so that I, too, can be awarded the victor’s crown on that day. Amen.