There is so much joy in finishing a marathon. Everything you’ve endured fades away into the awesomeness of your accomplishment. While you are tired, hurting, and hungry, you are also blissful and proud. Incandescently happy. When I crossed the finish line, I couldn’t stop laughing and smiling for a long time. All of it was worth it.
In Paul’s last meeting with the church at Ephesus, Paul told the elders there that he was headed to Jerusalem and he did not know what his fate would be when he arrived there. But it didn’t matter to him. All that mattered was that God’s message was preached. He would go to Jerusalem regardless of what it meant for his own life because it was what God needed from him.
Why would he so willingly go to what would eventually be the beginning of the end of his life? Because he wanted to finish his race with joy. None of the earthly things mattered to him – they did not move him. Instead, he would do what God expected and needed no matter the cost to him so that he could finish his race and finish it with joy.
We will experience no greater joy than finish our spiritual race. But to finish it we must put our expectations and desires aside; instead we must embrace God’s will and expectations for our lives. We are running in God’s race so we must follow his rules and map. If we do so, we are promised to finish our race with joy.
Commit to running God’s correctly no matter the cost so that your soul can be Incandescently joyful as it crosses the finish line. #runningtherace
Adonai's Appeal 