Nearing the End…
2013 is drawing to a close and as we look forward to the last days of this year, I wonder, what does it look like to you? Is it a glorious dash to the finish line? Or is it just hanging on by a thread and hoping to make it?
December is full of reminders of Christmas and is a great way to end the year in a positive manner. Maybe 2013 was a tough year for you. In our Senior Saints this year we have had some funerals and some unexpected illnesses. If it has been a hard year, let me encourage you to keep trusting God to see you through. He is always faithful, and even when we cannot understand the reasons for circumstances He allows, we know that His love for us never changes!
Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
On the other hand, maybe 2013 is one of the best years of your life. If so, praise the Lord and finish strong for Him! Either way, we need to finish the year well. Paul discounted his own discomfort and peril so that he could finish his race well.
Acts 20:24 But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.
Then when Paul wrote his last letter to Timothy, he was able to say:
2 Timothy 4:6-7 For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:
Finish 2013 with a flourish! Stay faithful to God. Don’t quit right before the end. Use the Christmas season to celebrate His goodness to men and tell others of Him. Let December be a springboard into January that will give you spiritual momentum in Godly living and service to Him throughout 2014!