Running Toward Jesus

I have fought the good fight. 2 Timothy 4:7

D.L. MOODY
Rome never had such a conqueror as Paul within her walls. Rome never had such a mighty man as Paul within her boundaries. Although the world looked down upon him, and perhaps he looked very small and contemptible, yet in the sight of heaven, he was the mightiest man who ever trod the streets of Rome. Probably there will never be another one like him travelling those streets. The Son of God walked with him like the fourth man in the fiery furnace (see Daniel 3:24–25).

ERWIN LUTZER
Soon after Paul wrote 2 Timothy, he was beheaded by Nero, reminding us that death does not end all. Not only that, but decisions and victories won in this world may be very different in the life to come.
Then I think of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He turned against Hitler, becoming part of the resistance movement, and was eventually hung in Flossenbürg. What impresses me is that on the morning of his hanging (and that wouldn’t be a nice way to die, would it?), a biographer says that he was stripped, taken to the gallows, and was allowed to pray. And he prayed these words. He said, “This is the end…for me the beginning  of life.” And with that, he walked to the gallows and was hung. Dr.
H. Fischer-Hüllstrung who saw him said he had never seen anyone die “so entirely submissive to the will of God.” “This is the end…For me the beginning of life.”
Things are not what they appear to be, and at the end of the day, what we need is Jesus so that we can say, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21).

PRAYER
Father, teach me faithfulness in matters both small and weighty until I make it all the way to the finish line.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS
What is a specific circumstance in your life right now where you are struggling to be entirely submissive to God's difficult will?

How does keeping the reality of the resurrection at the forefront of our minds change the way we handle fear, aging, or terminal circumstances?