…but now you also must complete the doing of it;
that as there was a readiness to desire it, so there also may be a completion out of what you have (2 Corinthians 8:11, NKJV).
I lost two friends this week.
Actually, that’s not true. They’re not lost at all. In fact, they have simply gone on to heaven ahead of me. One was swimming in a pool at a hotel in Kauai, where he was vacationing with his beloved wife; the other lost her battle with cancer, as her husband and grown children watched and prayed at her bedside. Both were valiant warriors and committed servants of Christ; both are now rejoicing in their Savior’s presence.
Their passing into eternity brought the above scripture to the forefront of my thoughts. Jim and Jacque didn’t just “start well” or have an occasional victorious day as believers. These two godly people remained faithful from the beginning of their walk with the Lord—and they finished well, completing what they started in a way that honored the One they claimed to follow.
The Apostle Paul did the same. As he approached the end of his life, he confidently declared, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7, NKJV). And he certainly didn’t do so because he had an easy life! As trials, tests, and tribulations—some of which seem to have no end in sight—continue to assault us in an attempt to derail us and cause us to question God’s faithfulness, may we stay focused on finishing well so that when we too have “graduated” to heaven, others will say of us that we “fought the good fight…finished the race…kept the faith.”
What a wonderful testimony yours have left behind! Knowing where they are and that you will see them again makes the fact that they are no longer a part of life here so much easier to bear. Praying for their families peace.
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