Finishing Well

Finishing well is a problem. It’s almost a cliche these days that, for any great person who lives a long time, we’re going to see their downfall. It happens in politics, it happens in pop culture, it happens in sports. The longer a person stays in the spotlight, the more likely we are to see their failures.

In one sense, this is completely understandable. Since human beings are not perfect, it stands to reason that the longer someone occupies our attention the more likely we are to see them fail. But it goes beyond this. There does seem to be some force that acts against us over time to make us more likely to crash and burn.

This can also be seen in the Church. Great pastors experience years of fruitful ministry, only to have it all tarnished by some kind of moral failure, whether it be sexual, financial, or related to pride and ego. There’s a who’s who of pastors and ministers who have this as their story.

I don’t need to list them here, because that doesn't help anybody and we could all probably create a list like that in a few minutes. But it doesn’t end there. History is replete with men and women who failed to end well. There’s a pretty long list in the Bible alone, and many of them are heroes of the faith.

I think of Noah, who built the ark to survive the flood and, immediately after leaving the boat, got drunk on wine and put his children in a position to sin against him in his stupor.

I think of Abraham who lied and doubted God.

Of course, Isaac who’s conditional love seemed to turn his two sons against one another.

Jacob had the same problem with his 12 sons and 2 wives with their concubine servants. Those brothers were a mess, in part because Jacob was such a bad father.

Moses was even allowed to enter the Promised Land because he didn’t trust God’s word and follow simple directions.

Gideon went from conquering Israel’s enemies to setting up an idol for all Israel to worship.

King Saul stopped honoring the Lord, thinking of himself first.

Even King David ended his life in the sadness of seeing his sons turn against one another and fall into sin.

King Solomon married foreign wives and worshipped idols.

Few kings in Judah served the Lord faithfully for an entire lifetime.

When you think about it, it’s actually pretty difficult to think of people who served faithfully to the end. But Nehemiah is one of those people. There is not a negative word spoken about him in all of Scripture.

Worthship & Giving Generously

Decay

Destruction

Just as Nehemiah faced these challenges with joy, trust, and obedience, we are called to live our lives in service to God’s work in the world with the same joy, trust, and obedience. It’s up to us to walk this journey of restoration together in response to God’s call.