The Race

Recently I read “The Journey: How to Live by Faith in an Uncertain World,” written by Billy Graham. When he approached his late eighties, he wanted to pass on to next generation the wisdoms and insights he had gained during his life journey as a Christian. Pastor Joseph Lee also wants to write that kind of book for his grandson Joseph Lee Walton when he retires. In the book, Billy Graham says that you can’t change the past; however, with God’s help you can change the future, especially, the end-result of your life, if you follow God’s blue plan for you.

In 2 Timothy 4:7, Paul triumphantly declares at his last days that “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” Billy Graham asks this question at the epilogue of the book: “One day your life’s journey will be over…But what kind of journey will it have been? At the end of your life, will you look back with sorrow and regret, realizing too late that you had traveled the wrong road? Or perhaps that the road you traveled was the right one – but you had allowed the troubles and temptations of this world to hold you back and keep you from reaching your full potential?”

When I was reading the part, I felt uneasy because I knew I would exactly regret like that if I looked back my life right now. Although I have been on the right road, I have allowed the troubles and temptations of this world to hinder my race toward the heaven and wasted time and opportunities and kept me from bearing good fruits in God. Don’t get me wrong. I am not talking about worldly success or even ministry. At the end of his life, Paul was left with almost nothing. He was imprisoned in Rome because of his faith. Even his friends had abandoned him or gone elsewhere; only Luke was still with him. Measured by the world’s standard, his life was a failure. But not by God’s standards! He had been faithful to God’s blue plan for him. He could truthfully say, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” He indeed finished well. I am talking about this kind of success.

As Billy Graham says, we cannot change the past, but we can change the future if we make better choices and decisions according to God’s plan. If you are still young, you are in a better position than old people like me. You can change the course of your life and finish the race well.

Whether you like it or not, when you were born, you were placed in this life journey. You had no choice about it. Then one day our life will be over at God’s appointed time. As we had no choice about birth, so will we do about death. The problem is, however, that we forget that life is a journey that has a beginning and an end. As Billy Graham mentions, we are so caught up with our immediate concerns and hectic life schedules that we cannot see the whole picture. For many people, life is a constant struggle just to survive. Others, it is a playground in which they enjoy as much as they can possibly and from which they will disappear someday. But God didn’t intend our life to be like that. He intended it to have meaning and purpose even in the most ordinary events, as we see in the life of Joseph.

            I cannot give you all the insights in the Bible he shared but want to share several important points with you about this journey. I am going to share with you a few points among them.

First, God put you on the journey of life. My mother was impregnated with me when she was 40 years old. By current standard, 40 years old is still young, but not by my mother’s generation. It was like she had me in her fifties or sixties according to current standard. So she tried to abort me through bitter herbs. But anyhow I was born. Some of you were born as orphans or adoptees. Some of you may think you were born by the heated moment of your parents. When you and I were born, we were not born by random chance or accident. We entered the journey of life by God’s good intention and purpose upon us. Therefore, everyone’s life is precious (or sanctimonious) in the sight of God. You were not abandoned by blind fate in this vast universe.

Second, God’s plan for each of us is very good. It is unthinkable to imagine that God put us on the journey of life and then he did not have any plan for us. Many people think that they are abandoned in this vast universe without any purpose or meaning of life. Some cannot find any reason or motive for going to school and studying hard. To them they are meaningless. But contrary to their thinking, God has a very good intent for all of us. He wants all of us to live a meaningful and fruitful life. He wants us to triumphantly cry like Paul at the end of our lives. “I have finished the race.” Due to your hard circumstances, some of you may doubt that God has a good plan for you. Joni Eareckson Tada became a quadriplegic a tragic 1967 diving accident in Chesapeake Bay. She was unable to use her hands or legs. She was so depressed that she even contemplated suicide. Tada wrote of her experiences in her 1976 international best-selling autobiography, Joni, The unforgettable story of a young woman's struggle against quadriplegia & depression, which has been distributed in many languages. Her Christian ministry helped many distraught people and led them to Christ. As Pastor Josephine Lee always says, “You never know how God will use you for someone.” You never know that you will become the mother of the famous world-wide evangelist like Billy Graham. You never know your prayer for someone will be greatly used by God as Stephen’s prayer at his death for Saul, who later became Apostle Paul. You never know your simple witness of Jesus Christ or teaching the Bible will free a person’s life of addiction or abuse. God has a good plan for each of us. If we understand this truth, it gives us hope – hope that our lives can be meaningful and purposeful.

Third, the sad thing is that we can reject God’s good plan for us and choose our own ways. That’s what exactly happened at the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve rebelled against God and sin entered into the world. Since then, no one could successfully finish the journey of life.  The Bible is plain about this truth. It says, “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.  All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one” (Romans 3:9-12). And our lives evidently prove the truth. Without God’s intervention, no one wants to live according to God’s plan; everyone wants to choose his or her own ways. As a result, everyone is destined to bear bad fruits to God.

Even successful people questioned at the end of their lives for what they spent all their energies and time. King Solomon had power, wisdom, wealth, and many beautiful women. But at the end of his life, he said that his life was like a chasing after the wind.

Fourth, however, God, who is supremely good, provides us with the new path of journey in which we can fulfill God’s good purpose in our lives, even though we cannot bear good fruits by our own nature. It is the path of faith and trust in God. He promises that if we believe in his good promise and faithfully follow him, we will bear good fruits. For this, God prepared everything from the beginning. He raised a man of faith Abraham, raised a nation through him, gave the law, and raised prophets. And finally, he sent his one and only Son Jesus Christ so that whoever believes in him will have a new life, for the forgiveness through his blood is the foundation of our new life. He also sent the Holy Spirit, founded the church so that Christians may encourage each other, and build up each other until they finish the race. Anyone who patiently follow God are destined to bear good fruits if they never doubt God’s good promise upon them.

One of the truths I learned through my life is that God never gives me up. I gave him up.  I deserted him, but the vice versa has not been true. Once Peter asked Jesus, “How many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against us? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times (or seventy times seven).” God forgives us and loves us to the end because of Jesus’ death on the cross for our sins. Why does God forgive us our sins again and again? It is because of his great desire that we repent from the sin of destructing our lives but start a new life again, and bear good fruits in him.

As I quoted from Billy Graham at the beginning, you cannot change the past but you can change the future. If you repent your sins and commit your life to God and patiently follow him, you will surely reap a harvest of good fruits. “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest” (Galatians 6:9)

When I look back my past life, I was full of fits of anger, selfishness, self-centeredness, sinful nature, or no compassion on others. But God has slowly changed my nature one by one when I have believed God’s promise on Jesus Christ and committed my life to him. I am still far away from what God expected me to be. I am still learning. But one thing is clear: God is changing me step by step and I am looking forward to that day when my imperfection will be gone away.

Fifth, the amazing thing is that God’s blueprint for the journey of life is already written in the Bible. Many people want to live by faith and bear good fruits. But they say, “The world is overwhelming. The sin in me is too strong. My faith is too weak. How could I win the battle of this race?” Billy Graham asks this question: “Can faith really grow and become stronger?” His answer is “Yes!” because God has given us the resources to achieve this. God gave many provisions for this. One of them is the Bible.

“But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:14-17)

The word of God is the food for the growth of our faith. If you want your faith to grow, then let the word of God occupy your mind and heart. Romans 10:7 says, “faith comes from the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.” This is the reason why we should know the Bible. Many people now own the Bible, even in ipad, or iphone. But they do not read it.  One of the reasons for that is they do not understand the Bible. For this reason, God raised Bible teachers or pastors or preachers who have been trained for interpreting the word of God and equipping you with the word of God. Please take advantage of Bible study group, Sunday sermons, books, radio, TV, or internet. If you wish, you can find many and many good resources for understanding the word of God.

Finally, according to today’s verse, our journey of life as a Christian is like a battle or a race.  “I have fought the fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” Billy Graham mentions in his book Jesse Owens, who graduated from the Ohio State University and won the 100 m sprint at the Berlin Summer Olympic in 1936 in order to explain whether life is a sprint or a marathon. The journey of life is a long distant race. In a marathon race, one of the temptations marathoners face is to desire to give up because it is too long. But they run to the end because they know the goal and they want to finish the race. Luckily, we Christians know the goal. We know that the end of our journey will be glorious. We eagerly look for the day. Therefore it is very important that the living hope is burning brightly in our hearts. Do you know the goal of your Christian journey?  Do you know that you have a wonderful, marvelous, and living hope?  Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.