As Life Draws to a Close

Christopher Columbus Award

Citation reads: This award goes to those who, like good old Chris, when they set out to do something, don’t know where they are going; neither do they know how to get there.  When they arrive, they don’t know where they are, and when they return, they don’t know where they have been. (Source Unknown)

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. 

Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, 

which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: 

and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing.
II Timothy 4:6-8

The Apostle Paul was sitting in the Mamertine Prison in Rome when he wrote these words to Timothy. His time was short, he was out of appeals, but he was ready to pour out his life for Christ. Unlike Christopher Columbus, he knew where he had been and where he was going.

Martyrdom might be thought by some to be the ultimate sacrifice and the greatest demonstration of complete commitment to a person or cause. Perhaps that is true. Most Christians that I know would be willing to give their lives to Christ in death. But would they be willing to give their lives in life (living for Christ)?

Paul was not only willing, but he was ready. He fought the fight well, he finished the race strong, and he kept the value of his faith. It was not the immanent presence of death, but his intimate relationship with Christ that prepared him. He was strengthened, steadied, and comforted in the difficulty of those final days because he had learned to trust Christ in the difficult years that preceded. God prepared Paul for life and death through sanctification.

Sanctification is the ongoing process whereby a Christian learns to put off the old man and put on the new man (Ephesians 4:22-24). It is separation from sin and separation to God. Jim Berg in his book Changed into His Image tells us that sanctification “is a cooperative effort between you and God.” The goal of sanctification is Christlikeness (Romans 8:28-29). We can’t embrace sin and embrace God. We must choose one or the other. If we choose poorly (faithful to love self), then God will resist us. But if we choose well (faithful to love God), then God will reward us. 

historicphotography.com

Archibald Rutledge wrote that he met a man whose dog had just been killed in a forest fire. Heartbroken, the man explained to Rutledge how it happened. Because he worked outdoors, he often took his dog with him. That morning, he left the animal in a clearing and gave him a command to stay and watch his lunch while he went into the forest. His faithful friend understood, for that’s exactly what he did. Then a fire started in the woods, and soon the blaze spread to the spot where the dog had been left. But he didn’t move. He stayed right where he was, in perfect obedience to his master’s word – and died. 

With tearful eyes, the dog’s owner said, “I always had to be careful what I told him to do, because I knew he would do it.”

Now, if a dumb dog could be obedient to his master even unto death, then how much more should we be obedient to the Master who died for us. So, do you love God? Careful now, do you really love God? Are you willing to die for Christ? More importantly, are you willing to live, really live, in obedience to Him?      

Thanks for reading - PM

And thou shalt love the Lord thy God
with all thy heart, and with all thy soul,
and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength:
this is the first commandment.
Mark 12:30