I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing. 1
I chuckle every time I hear people disparage Christians for focusing on the afterlife. Of course, the conclusion that we Christians are frittering away this life hinges on the assumption that there is no afterlife. If that is true, if death extinguishes our existence once and for all, then we are indeed fools.
On the other hand, if Christianity is true, if Christ really did rise from the dead and prove once and for all that there is life after death, then not to focus on it by preparing for it and hoping for it would be the greatest of all errors. Missing out on heaven and spending an eternity in hell because one bought into the current materialistic argument so well received in our culture would be the greatest tragedy one could ever experience.
In addition, not believing in an afterlife that actually exists wouldn’t just have repercussions only in the afterlife, but in this life as well. Think, for example, what history would be like if the Apostle Paul hadn’t finished his life as a faithful servant of the Lord. What would have happened if, giving in to the severe persecution he faced, he denied his faith? Or if he simply gave up on his missionary activity and went home? Massive swaths of western Europe would have a completely different history now. Few of us reading this would even be alive today.
Christian, we all have a race to run and a race to finish. As in all races, the question isn’t how well we start the race or how well we run the race, but how well we finishthe race. Simply starting the race doesn’t guarantee that we will finish well.
As Christians, we have come to know and love God and his son, Jesus Christ. The Bible also gives us extensive knowledge of what heaven will be like. We have good and sufficient reasons for believing what we believe.2 How we finish our race determines our reward in heaven, our “crown of righteousness.” But how we finish our race also affects everyone around us in this life. Our perseverance, our persistence – or lack thereof – helps or hinders others around us.
But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.3
This post first appeared in NewCommandment.org.
_______________________________________________________________
Learn how to form teams of men for every widow, single mom
and fatherless child in your church at NewCommandment.org.
_______________________________________________________________
