Valerie Rae Hanneman
2 Timothy 4:6-8 (The Message) “You take over. I'm about to die, my life an offering on God's altar. This is the only race worth running. I've run hard right to the finish, believed all the way. All that's left now is the shouting—God's applause! Depend on it, He's an honest judge. He'll do right not only by me, but by everyone eager for His coming.”
When my son, Steven, was in the fourth grade (back when he was still my little Stevie) he joined the cross country team. He practiced and practiced and practiced. Then came his first meet. When the starter gun went off so did Stevie. As they went around the back turn I was so excited because Stevie was in first place! But when he came over the finish line he was almost in last place and so winded and shaky legged that I thought he was going to pass out! That next week he came home from practice and told me that his coach had told him that in a long race it was important not to run as fast as you can in the beginning - you had to have something in reserve. At his next meet he did better, finishing in the middle of the pack - not winded and no shaky legs. I felt better about it - but Stevie didn’t. He came home from practice that week and told me that his coach had said that Stevie needed a reserve going towards the finish line but he better not have anything in reserve when he went over the finish line. Of course, the perfect ending to this would be to say that Stevie took first place from then on. He didn’t. Not even once. But during his season he continued to improve and he learned how to give his very best.
Being a Christ follower is a lot like running in a cross country race. You need to run the race that has been set before you the best that you can, you need to know how to pace yourself, and you need to know how not to leave any reserve when you cross the finish line. Paul was a gung-ho Christian. He is the epitome of “on fire for the LORD.” But I don’t find any evidence in his epistles that he overdid it. I looked up “exhaust’ in several different versions of Paul’s epistles. In The Message he talked about not getting exhausted by the little details of life and for us to reach out to the exhausted. In several versions I read him talking about working hard for Christ. And I am positive that, like all of us, he had days when he could barely move he was so tired. But it wasn’t a habit. I bet that you have known a Christian (or two) who are so on fire for the LORD that it is like a raging wildfire. They are involved in every ministry that they can get their heart around. They are involved in so much that half the congregation thinks that they are paid staff. But they don’t last long. Soon they are not only dropping out of their ministries, they are dropping out of the church. They start falling behind in their race because they don’t have any reserve for the long haul. They had a great beginning, but when it comes time to cross that finish line they are so winded and shaky legged that they can barely stumble in.
Paul ran his race hard until the very end. The Romans had imprisoned his body but they could not imprison his heart or his mind. All of his epistles written in prison continue to emphasis all that he had taught to the people and churches when he had been with them. In this epistle to Timothy, Paul’s young apprentice, he continues to teach Timothy (and us) how to follow Christ, even as he knows that soon his life will be over. He had run his race as hard as he could, he had paced himself and had not used up all of his reserve but Paul had no intention of having anything in reserve when he crossed that finish line. Do you know of any Christians who are living on big tanks of reserve? They dabble in this ministry, touch that ministry but never really commit to any ministry. Or they are involved in a ministry but never strive to grow past that ministry and into something new. Or they are pew-potatoes whose greatest act of service to Jesus is showing up and staying awake not) for exactly one hour and fifteen minutes every Sonday? These Christians will stroll across their finish line, not even breathing heavy.
Jesus knew about these reserve-Christians. He told a parable (Matthew 25) of the Master who left for a far country leaving his servants in charge of differing amounts of money. When he returned he called in the servants for an accounting of what they had done with the money. When he got to the last servant, the servant had a lot of excuses but the bottom line was that he had taken what the Master had given him and he sat on it. The master was furious! He called the servant lazy and worthless and said that the least the servant could have done was put it in the bank so it would earn interest. The money was taken from the lazy servant and given to the servant who had invested and used what the Master had given him.
Jesus has given us all gifts to use in service for Him. They are meant to last for our whole race. He does not want us to exhaust them and ourselves nor does He want us to sit on them - reserve them - until we cross the finish line then try to give them back to Him.
He loves us so much, He has given us so much and He wants us to use what He has given us to do so much for His kingdom.
My Jesus, You love me with an everlasting love. You have given me gifts to use in serving You. I don’t want to burn out before I get to my finish line. I don’t want to stroll over my finish line with all my gifts unused, and every hair in place. I want to slide in sideways over that line, with my Bible in one hand, my prayer journal in the other and with my reserve tank just clicking on empty, shouting with joy, “Whew! What a ride!” For You Jesus - No Reserve.
Contact Valerie or sign up for the e-Ministries of FFBC at valerie@fresnofirst.org