Monday Memo 1270: Finish Your Race

We have spent the last several months looking at purpose lessons from the life of Paul. His was an extraordinary life. He traveled throughout the Roman Empire, planted churches, trained leaders, wrote letters that became part of the New Testament, stood before kings and governors, and helped establish Christianity throughout the Gentile world. Few people in history have had the kind of impact Paul had, and most of us never will.

That's important to acknowledge as we conclude this series because the purpose lesson isn't that you should become another Paul. God already had a Paul so He doesn't need another one. What He wants and needs is for you to be who He created you to be and to finish the work He has given you to do. Near the end of his life, Paul wrote:

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7).

Paul didn't say he had finished everyone's race. He finished his race. His happened to involve nations, churches, apostleship, suffering, writing, and an enormous influence that continues two thousand years later. Your race may look nothing like his, but that doesn't make your race any less important for you to finish.

Perhaps your purpose involves working with children, painting landscapes, writing short stories, caring for the elderly, serving your community, building a business, repairing or organizing things, making people laugh, or quietly helping people through difficult seasons. You don't have to change the world if that isn't your race. You simply have to do what God created you to do.

Yet we need to consider the other side of that truth. Some people use humility as an excuse to play small when God has given them the capacity and opportunity to do something big. Their race may indeed be run before hosts of people. Their work may be intended to touch thousands, build a large organization, create wealth, produce a large body of work, or influence nations. If that's your race, then shrinking from it isn't humility. You don't honor God by pretending to be less than He created you to be any more than you honor Him by pretending to be more.

The problem, therefore, isn't big or small. The problem is comparison and disobedience. Some refuse to do a little because it isn't a lot, while others refuse to do a lot because they're afraid it will look prideful or ambitious. Both are mistakes. If God gives you one person to help, help the one. If He gives you thousands, serve the thousands. Faithfulness isn't determined by the size of the opportunity but by whether you accept and steward the opportunity God gives you.

Throughout this series we've seen how often Paul's significant opportunities began with something small. Lydia was one woman by a river. Timothy was one young man. A rented house in Rome became a place where Paul could continue teaching while chained to a guard. Yet Paul never used those small beginnings as an excuse to remain small. When God opened cities, regions, and eventually nations to him, Paul went. He was faithful with little, but he was also willing to be faithful with much.

I often say that I'm writing for a future generation. I’ve written more than 100 books, and I continue to write because writing is part of my race. Perhaps God will choose to preserve those books and put them into the hands of people long after I'm gone. Perhaps someday someone I will never meet will read something I wrote and receive exactly what they need at that moment. Or perhaps God will choose to bury my books with me. Either way, my responsibility is the same.

My job isn't to guarantee an audience for what I write, now or later. My job is to write. If God wants something I've written to influence another generation, He knows how to preserve it and get it into their hands. If He chooses to give my work a large audience, then my job isn’t to shrink from that opportunity in the name of humility. If He gives it a small audience, my job isn’t to despise it because I wanted something bigger. The obedience is in doing the work He gave me to do and allowing Him to determine its reach.

That's liberating because it removes from us the burden of defining success while leaving us with the responsibility to work. We should pursue excellence, develop our gifts, take advantage of opportunities, make what we have accessible, and work with all our heart. The painter should paint, the writer should write, the teacher should teach, the caregiver should care, the encourager should encourage, and the organizer should organize. Whatever God has put in your heart and given you the ability to do, do it faithfully and keep doing it for as long as He gives you the opportunity.

We've studied Paul's race, but this series was never intended simply to make you admire Paul's purpose. It was intended to help you recognize and pursue yours. Paul discovered what God had created him to do, obeyed the revelation he received, adapted when circumstances changed, endured opposition, worked through weakness, survived storms, used what was available to him, remained accessible to people, and kept going until he could say that his race was finished.

Now the responsibility is ours. Don't compare your race to Paul's or anyone else's, and don't decide beforehand how large or small your purpose should be. Don't refuse the small opportunity because it isn't large enough, and don't shrink from the large opportunity because you're afraid of appearing important. Be faithful with what God puts before you, develop what He has given you, serve the people He sends you, and keep moving for as long as He gives you strength and time.

Then one day, when your race is nearing its end, may you be able to look back without worrying about how many people remember your name or how long your work survives you. Whether your race was run before one person or one million, may you have the satisfaction of knowing that you did what God created you to do and can say with Paul, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”

Your Turn

What does finishing your race look like for you? Have you neglected something because it seemed too small to matter, or have you been playing small because you are uncomfortable with the size of what God may want to do through you?

What Would Paul Ask You?

Are you faithfully running the race God gave you, or are you allowing comparison, false humility, fear, or ambition to determine how large or small your race should be?

Purpose Moment

Thank God for the unique race He has given you to run. Ask Him for the grace to embrace its true scope, whether it takes you before one person or multitudes. Commit the results and legacy to Him, then concentrate on being faithful to finish your race.