7 Pieces of Advice from an ApostleSample

Keep the Faith

In my twenties, as a professional distance runner, I ran marathons around the world. My concern for these 26.2-mile races was not to start well, but to finish well. In fact, I wanted to run the last half of the race faster than the first half.

The spiritual life is a marathon, not a sprint, and God wants us to finish strong. As Paul neared the finish line of his life, he could testify, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” Three staccato statements that make the same point: I finished the course God gave me. I endured faithfully to the end.

Interestingly, Paul uses the perfect tense because the finish line was so close. It’s a done deal. The journey wasn’t easy. There was pain and suffering, hard work and toil, difficulty and danger. In fact, our words agony and agonize come from the Greek words for fight and fought, as if Paul is saying, “I have agonized the good agony.” It was tough, but he endured. That’s what God has called you to do: endure, remain faithful to the end, and finish strong. 

William Wilberforce exemplified endurance and finishing well. After his conversion to Christianity as a young man, he began a tireless battle in the British Parliament to pass legislation to end the slave trade. He proposed bills in 1789, 1791, 1792, 1794, 1796, 1798, and 1799. They all failed. But in 1806, 19 years after he began his battle, a bill was passed in Parliament that prohibited British ships from being used in the slave trade. For the rest of his life, he continued to fight for the complete abolition of slavery. In 1831, near the end of his life, he wrote, “Our motto must continue to be perseverance. And, ultimately, I trust the Almighty will crown our efforts with success.” In 1833, both houses of Parliament passed the Slavery Abolition Act. Three days later, William Wilberforce died. He was buried in Westminster Abbey in national recognition of his 45 years of struggle on behalf of African slaves. 

Here is a man who could say, as Paul said, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have kept the faith.”