Mar 29 2007
One Who Finished Well
II Kings 23:25
Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the LORD as he did with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses.
I was reading this verse this morning & it made me think about all of the failures of the Kings yet Josiah finished well. It can be done.
What do you think?
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9 responses so far
Without a doubt it can be done. Many of the saints in the scripture finished well. Abraham, Issac, Jacob, Moses, Joshua… What is interesting about Josiah is that the Scripture doesn’t really point out a hindering flaw (if you don’t consider going to battle without God’s consent). I noticed though that Josiah was steadfast because he was committed to living out God’s word in every aspect of his life. I may be reading in between the lines, but I think he also took a hard look at the kings before him and determined to allow God to have free reign. I guess you could say that he learned from the mistakes of others.
Thanks for the verse!
I have always been intreagued by the comments “He was more evil than any other king”, or “He did evil in the sight of the Lord”, or “he was a good king, but did not tear down the idols”.
I also think that you can “finish well”, but it isn’t just an accidental thing. It is entirely intentional. You must plan to finish well.
This is something I think about much of the time.
As a Hospice volunteer, I see some races end well.
No, the national media doesn’t notice, and most don’t have best selling books. However, their well run races end with Angels attending and they are escorted into the blessed rest of everlasting peace, and in the glorious company of the Saints in light, they see the Face of Christ.
Earthly fame is fleeting, what counts in eternity, often is ignored here.
Peter mentioned a righteous man…Lot.
Lot of us read the scriptures and like to think, I’m like David, or I am a Gideon…. You know we all probably have a lot more in common with Lot than we want to think. None of us are are depending any less upon the grace of God for our righteousness than he did.
In Christ
Andrew \o/
Paul might have been a sports fan with as many sports illustrations he used in his writings. I like to think he would watch ESPN Headline News if he were here today. He encourage us to press on to the mark. Let us not forget the writer of Hebrews telling us we have a cloud of witnesses watching us. I like to think of them cheering us on like a crowd at a sporting event. With this in mind, let us run the course laid out before us and let us finish well.
He encourage us to press on to the mark.
Opps! I am sorry about the subject-verb agreement mistake. A long day had gotten the better of my grammar.
Dozer,
Good thought about Lot. But I’m not sure if we define “finish well” to mean that God’s grace brings us to eternity with Him. In that sense, all of God’s children finish well. I kind of associate finish well with living a life that glorifies God in every way. Obviously that doesn’t mean without sinning (the flesh has a way of getting in the way), but more of the sense that we don’t bring disrepute to the gospel. Just my thoughts…
Blessings
Guy
Good thoughts too Guy. However my thoughts on the subject were this: The people who are mentioned as our great cloud of witnesses, who finished well, it was their act of faith that distinguished them above the crowd.
From the Message… Not one of these people, even though their lives of faith were exemplary, got their hands on what was promised. God had a better plan for us: that their faith and our faith would come together to make one completed whole, their lives of faith not complete apart from ours.
Individual triumphs, failures are trumped by the boundless love and grace of our Lord and I do not believe a single one of us CAN finish well and we’re fools to believe otherwise. Thankfully, we who are by faith, the beneficiaries of this love, have hope because Christ Jesus already finished well for us.
The day it was revealed that Ted Haggard hired a male prostitute and bought some crank, I was talking to a friend on the phone about it flicking through the TV channels… I paused too long as I saw a woman shed her clothes on my TV. That might make me what some call normal and straight, but not any less in need of a Savior. Thankfully it’s not all up to me. It never will be and It never was.
In Christ
Andrew \o/
Titus 2:13
Good points, Dozer. It is hard to finish well because Satan has laid land mines in the course and is throwing hand grenades at us.