When the bottom falls out in your life, you know that you should stand firm. This takes a lot of prayer and some good old determination. With the Lord’s help, time passes and life moves on with a spring in your step and freshness to your perspective.
What concerns me is your need to continue doing good, even after you achieved a reasonable amount of success (whatever that means). You have done well. You have been faithful. Maybe your life takes a turn of events or maybe you are continuing to excel in life. People who begin anything and do well for a short period of time frankly don’t impress me much. What I believe really matter in life and to the Lord is the person who continues on day-after-day and ends well.
Courageous people are those that walk by faith day in and day out for the long haul. One sage of yesteryear put it this way: “It takes courage to stand up and be counted, but it takes more courage to keep standing up after you have been counted.” So stay at it. No matter what you are doing that is right, stay focused and keep faithful to the task. I know the activity may have lost its newness, or become boring, or new avenues for the activity emerge. The fact is that you are to keep at the task. Anyone can start well. What really matters is how you finish.
The area of life that concerns me most about finishing well is your faithfulness to serve the Lord. Life changes. Doors close and other doors open in your life. Friends (close friends), family, or loved ones cause deep emotional scars. Take the stand that nothing and I mean nothing is going to keep you from finishing strong for the Lord.
The familiar verse in 1 Cor. 16:13 comes to mind: “Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.” Notice, this verse starts off reminding you to “be on the alert” or look around you and be aware of pitfalls that may be coming to you. Afterward, it commands, “stand firm in the faith.” Yep, Paul knew to do that required courage, so he followed up with the command to “be strong.”
You started well. Now, is the time to finish well. Don’t get discouraged but keep a laser focus on being faithful to the Lord Jesus. Stand firm in the faith!
