Have you ever finished a job and been very satisfied with what you have done?  Maybe you created something or put something together and it turned out well.  Maybe it was as simple as cooking something that ended up delicious.  Maybe you accomplished a goal you had been working on for awhile.  There is something incredibly satisfying with knowing that you have done something really well.  Paul writes some final thoughts to Timothy but also relishes in the fact that he has done his job well.  Let’s look at his words together today.

In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: 2 Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. 3 For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 5 But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry. 6 For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 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.

Paul says that he has fought the good fight and finished the race.  The work that God has asked of him he feels he has accomplished. That truly is a great feeling.  The question for us is what work has God asked of us?  I pray that we would be faithful to the task and that we, too would one day be able to say that we have fought the good fight and finished the race!

In His Grip,

Pastor Dave