AP

FINISHING WELL

            It is a sobering observation in life that not all who start well in the Christian life finish well. This disturbing pattern can be detected in the accounts of many whose lives are recorded in Scripture. Israel’s first king, Saul, for example, starts better than he finishes. Samuel acclaims him, saying, ‘There is none like him among all the people’ (1 Sam.10:24). That may refer to his height more than anything else, but he does know a measure of God’s favour in his life. Sadly, it unravels bit by bit until finally the panic-stricken shadow of a man consults a medium at En-dor where he learns of his impending death (1 Sam.28). He who had promised so much delivered so little.

            Saul’s successor, David, is described as ‘the man after God’s own heart’ (1 Sam.13:14; Acts 13:22), yet even he stumbles badly in his final years after his adultery with Bathsheba and his murder (by proxy) or Uriah. The baby boy born of the illicit union would die, and David would experience evil in his own household (2 Sam.12:11-14). He was forgiven, but there was a loss of moral authority, and consequences remained. Then comes Solomon, who is acclaimed for wisdom, but descends into the folly of marrying 700 wives and 300 concubines (1 Kings 11). In his own homely but memorable way, Dale Ralph Davis calls 1 Kings 11 ‘the dull thud after the high hopes’ of 1 Kings 1-10. The result is that Solomon tolerates, and even endorses, various other gods and goddesses – for which the ESV uses the term ‘abomination’.

            Falls, even spectacular tumbles, are found in the New Testament also. None of the disciples guessed that when Jesus prophesied that one of them would betray Him, that it would be Judas (John 13:21-30). Paul speaks of Demas in his epistles to the Colossians and to Philemon as one who takes his place among his beloved fellow workers (Col.4:14; Philemon 24), but in his last epistle, 2 Timothy, he laments that Demas is in love with this present world, and has deserted the imprisoned apostle (2 Tim.4:10).  

The post-apostolic Church is no different, being littered with casualties who failed to finish well, sometimes quite disastrously. In the last few years of his life, Martin Luther wrote of the Jews in such violent language that it is embarrassing. In eighteenth century Wales, its most renowned evangelical preacher, Christmas Evans, went through a period of theological darkness as he embraced for a time the deadening definition of sin propounded in Sandemanianism. Thankfully, he recovered. The hymn-writer, Martin Madan, did the revival no favours in the days of Wesley and Whitefield when he came up with the view that polygamy was still legitimate in God’s eyes. The contemporary Church has supplied its falls, both doctrinal and moral.

The capacity for every sin and error is within us all. We ought to pray for the testimony and faith of the Psalmist:

O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wonderous deeds. So even to old age and grey hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come (Ps.71:17-18).

In a much-used biblical image, the righteous are compared to trees: ‘They are planted in the house of the LORD; they flourish in the courts of our God’ (Ps.92:13). Caleb served God into old age, as did Moses. Paul calls upon all Christians not to lose heart: ‘Though our out self is wasting aways, our inner self is being renewed day by day’ (2 Cor.4:16). The ageing process will slow down many things, but, God willing, the process of sanctification can continue.

For five silent final years of her life, after suffering two strokes, Corrie ten Boom bore a Christian testimony, even in her dotage. Christians should never underestimate the power of the witness of a disabled or dying Christian, even one with dementia. God’s Word and God’s Spirit are not chained.  Imprisonment in Ravensbruck had prepared her for another kind of imprisonment. Yet she was encouraged by Bible verses:

Be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.

I have loved you with an everlasting love.

My God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in

Christ Jesus.

The world increasingly gets it all backwards. It wants to turn funerals into celebrations of life with no mourning, and it wants to eradicate suffering by eradicating the sufferer. The apostle Paul looked back on his life – ‘I have kept the faith’ – and forward to his death when he would receive the crown of righteousness (2 Tim.4:6-8). And best of all, he did not earn this, for he was the foremost of sinners (1 Tim.1:15). But the crown of righteousness goes not to those who have earned it – no one has – but to all who have loved his appearing (2 Tim.4:8).

            To finish well, pray as Thomas Chalmers prayed: ‘O God, impress upon me the value of time, and give regulation to all my thoughts and to all my actions. O God, help me to live for Your glory. As the years roll over me, may I withdraw my affections from time, and feel that in moving through the world, I am moving toward eternity!’

– Peter Barnes