No Reserves, No Retreats, No Regrets
Introduction:
Paul wants to “finish” well. He wants to “finish” (τελειῶσαι) the course; i.e., he wants to keep running to the end; he wants to accomplish what he can accomplish. He wants to finish his “ministry;” i.e., he wants to proclaim and explain the gospel in Jerusalem yet again, as the Spirit requires him to do, even if it results in suffering. He refuses to give up, which means that impending imprisonment in Jerusalem will not keep him from going there. He travels constrained by God’s Spirit, and so he will continue on this course, even if it means losing his life.
In the 1988 summer olympics in Seoul, South Korea, Ben Johnson of Canada won the 100-meter dash, setting a new Olympic record and a new world record. Our American contender, Carl Lewis, came in second, and most were shocked that he hadn’t won the gold. After the race, the judges learned that Johnson had had an illegal substance in his body. He ran the race illegally, so the judges took away his medal. Though he ran faster and made an unforgettable impression, he did not deserve the reward.
—Charles R. Swindoll, Hope Again
I once heard W. A. Criswell, long-time beloved pastor of the First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas, tell a story about an evangelist who loved to hunt. As best I can recall, the man bought two setter pups that were topnotch bird dogs. He kept them in his backyard, where he trained them. One morning, an ornery, little, vicious looking bulldog came shuffling and snorting down the alley. He crawled under the fence into the backyard where the setters spent their days. It was easy to see he meant business. The evangelist’s first impulse was to take his setters and lock them in the basement so they wouldn’t tear up that little bulldog. But he decided he would just let the creature learn a lesson he would never forget. Naturally, they got into a scuffle in the backyard, and those two setters and that bulldog went round and round and round! The little critter finally had enough, so he squeezed under the fence and took off. All the rest of that day he whined and licked his sores. Interestingly, the next day at about the same time, here came that same ornery little bulldog—back under the fence and after those setters. Once again those two bird dogs beat the stuffing out of that little bowlegged animal and would have chewed him up if he hadn’t retreated down the alley. Would you believe, the very next day he was back! Same time, same station, same results. Once again after the bulldog had had all he could take, he crawled back under the fence and found his way home to lick his wounds.
“Well,” the evangelist said, “I had to leave for a revival meeting. I was gone several weeks. And when I came back, I asked my wife what had happened. She said, ‘Honey, you just won’t believe what’s happened. Every day, at the same time every morning, that little bulldog came back in the backyard and fought with our two setters. He didn’t miss a day! And I want you to know it has come to the point that when our setters simply hear that bulldog snorting down the alley and spot him squeezing under the fence, they immediately start whining and run down into our basement. That little, old bulldog struts around our backyard now just like he owns it.”
—Charles R. Swindoll, Living Above the Level of Mediocrity
