Finish The Race : The Final Lap
To quote the late and legendary, Kobe Bryant:
“Despite fear, finish the job”
The enemy can’t deny or destroy what God has for you, but he will make an effort to delay it!
The enemy doesn’t always use adverse circumstances to delay us. Instead, he’ll make us look at our circumstances from an adverse perspective. The word adversity can be defined as a state or instance of continued difficulty or misfortune.
Everything that we are facing right now and everything that we’re going to face this year doesn’t have to be viewed as misfortune. James encourages us to consider any kind of trouble as an opportunity for great joy (James 1:2 NLT)
To explain his reasoning, he mentions the following in verse three: “For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.”
Instead of looking at your trials as punishment, embrace them as the process that develops the necessary endurance to finish the race!
The first part of Romans 12:2 states the following: “Do not conform yourselves to the standards of this world, but let God transform you inwardly by a complete change of your mind.
It’s difficult to maintain a Godly perspective on your race while being obedient to the standards of the world! We shouldn’t be so loyal to what we believe that we can grow to believe something else!
This emphasizes the importance of allowing God to transform us internally through a COMPLETE change of our minds. Without this adjustment, the enemy can control how we see things and ultimately makes our race more difficult than it has to be.
If you’re not careful, you’ll consider something to be a burden when God sent it to be a blessing!
I remember the night that I left church with the feeling of defeat and discouragement. For the first time, I felt some concern about my ministerial career.
After some deep reflection and prayer, I recognized that I left church with the wrong perception. It made sense to leave that night with some anger and agitation, but I realized that the opinions of others didn’t alter God’s opinion of me. Despite the comments being circulated about me, I realized that it wouldn’t make God question his decision of choosing me!
My perspective shifted from repairing my reputation to protecting and perfecting my character. The late basketball coach, John Wooden mentioned the following about character:
“Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.”
We have to remember that we are exactly who God says that we are:
Romans 8:37 reminds us that we are more than conquerors through Christ
Romans 8:38 reminds us that NOTHING can separate us from his love