Paul's 'St. Crispin's Day' Speech

2 Timothy 3-4

In this passage, Paul exhorts a weary band of brothers and sisters to fight the good fight and finish strong. I was thinking of this yesterday and remembered the images of the Iron Man race where runners pushed themselves so hard that they literally had to crawl across the finish line. As they cross they are greeted by their friends, family, doctors and media. There is at once the knowledge that 'it is finished' and also, I have done well. And that is what we desire, on the deepest level to know, that God sees us crawling across the finish line and grasps us under the arms saying, you are my son/daughter and I am deeply pleased with you. That is a wonderful vision and a destiny to pursue wholeheartedly, but an even better analogy might be these guys, Rick and Dick Hoyt. As it turns out, our role in the race of life is sometimes less about running and more about being carried along by the grace of God. Anyway, the dichotomy between these two images, where one represents us as the runner, and the other with God as the runner, really is dealt with in James. We must run with all of our might, and God will take care of the rest.