Jacob Orr

In a few short weeks we will be coming up on the end of the traditional school year. Our kids all have worked so hard for all these weeks and have accomplished a lot. Let me encourage you to encourage them to keep going; to keep working hard; to keep going for their goals.

Here is a familiar verse. 2 Timothy 4:7 “I have fought the good fight; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith.”

Paul was writing to his son in the faith, Timothy. He was nearing the end of his ministry and time here on earth. Paul had overcome all kinds of various trials.  He’d been beaten and imprisoned for preaching the Gospel.  He’d been stoned, shipwrecked, and abandoned by friends.  Paul went through some really tough stuff. Now Paul was explaining to Timothy his current circumstances and nearing the end of his earthly life. He made these three brief statements to encourage Timothy to follow in his footsteps.

1. I have fought the good fight.

My family and i are big superhero movie fans.  I love Captain America.  He is so cool.  He’s super strong and he’s got that awesome shield. But what I love most about Captain America is his sense of conviction.  His sense of what is right and wrong.  He always seems to know what the right thing to do even when it’s hard.  And he never backs down from a fight.  Now, he doesn’t fight just because he can.  He fights the bad guys, right?  He fights the good fight.  

Paul is saying to Timothy here that he’s fought the good fight.  He’s done the right thing in sharing the Gospel as hard as he could with as many people as possible. 

2. I have finished the race.

When I was young and thin I used to like running.  I could run for miles at a time. Now I never raced officially but I would run around my neighborhood. Whenever I felt my body grow tired I would set my eyes on something ahead of me and I wouldn’t stop until I could reach out and touch that object – sometimes a stop sign, sometimes a mailbox.  The object didn’t matter.  What mattered was my resolve to keep going.  

Paul says he finished the race.  He did what Jesus called him to do.  He didn’t stop until he completed his task.  Don’t let you kids give up just because they’re tired or it gets hard. Tell them to keep going. 

3. I have kept the faith

My wife and I had been praying for our eldest child’s salvation since before he was born.  Now he’s a very logical child.  He wants to experience things with his five senses.  If he can see it, touch it, hear it, taste it, feel it, then it’s real to him. Now we don’t always get to encounter God in this way.  God deals with things of the heart, so he really struggled to believe.  

As parents we did all the right things to bring him to Jesus.  We prayed with him; we did family devotions and read the BIble to him. We were constantly involved at church.  But for the longest time he showed little interest.  

Did we give up? No. We kept the faith.  And I got to baptize him late last year.  God is in the business of answering our prayers.

So don’t stop believing.  Follow Jesus.  Fight the good fight. Do the right thing.  Finish your race.  Don’t give up.