You Can Still Finish 🏁

Hey beautiful! Hello Handsome! Thanks for taking the time to read this, I believe it’ll be worth your while. It’s going to be worth it not because of anything special I’ve got going on but simply because any Word from God has the potential to radically transform your life for the better and I’m here once again as the courier.

Did you know that one of the (if not “the”) greatest form of self-love is the pursuit of wisdom? The wisest person (besides Jesus of course) made this clear. In Prov 19:8, Solomon tells us that to acquire wisdom is to love yourself. God is a fountain of wisdom, it is from Him that all true wisdom originates. However, the channels by which the Lord chooses to release this wisdom may differ. Of course, through the person of the Holy Spirit, but the vessel may be you, a stranger speaking to you, a random podcast, a book, or even a blog post by some lady you’ve never met lol(Yeah, that one was for me). So please, keep on reading and lock in cause if you’ve been struggling with completing things, you’re not going to miss the power in this message. And I say that first as a recipient . I pray that the Lord speaks to you as you read this and that the eyes of your heart be enlightened to see beyond the words on this page. In Jesus’ Name. If it resonates with you, don’t stop at conviction, conform aka act. Okay, let’s get into it!

Over the past couple weeks, the Lord has been on me heavily about finishing. As it is the Lord’s custom to confirm His word, after He highlighted our anchor scripture for today(Eccl 7:8) to me, reiterations have been popping up left, right and centre. It’s as though in His mercy, He’s telling me “You ain’t about to just brush over this. You need this!” Within the same week, a youtube video was in my sight with the title “Focusing on the finish” (Lol seriously? Yep.) and a friend of mine “randomly” gave me a pep talk about finishing. Neither of them referenced the verse or had any idea that this is something the Lord has been dealing with me on. This has been followed by multiple other iterations or confirmations in the succeeding weeks. As I’ve taken the time to meditate on this scripture, Holy Spirit has continued to peel back layers, and unfold revelations as to what this means and how it applies in my life, and possibly in yours.

Completing things that we start is often a lot harder than starting. Lord, tell me about it! I cannot tell you how many things I have started that cease to exist simply because I exited early. Why do we start and not finish? How can we change that? Finishing is where consistency and patient endurance come in. Yeppp, you read that right, the notorious “patience”. We love it but we don’t necessary like what it implies: the dreaded “wait”. It also involves an inescapable law the Lord put in place to govern the earth – Time. So yeah… it may or may not have occurred to you but patient endurance is necessary for the finish. Let’s take a look at our anchor scripture;

“Finishing is better than starting.
Patience is better than pride.”
– Eccl 7:8

When this verse got my attention, I was more so focused on the very first line. I’d repeat to myself “Finishing is better than starting. Finishing is better than starting. Finishing is better than starting” as I pondered on what it meant. I knew for certain that this was in no way diminishing the value of a start because God honours the beginning of a thing. He loves to see the work begin ( Zech 4:10 ). So then, what exactly does this mean? It seems somewhat obvious at first glance. I mean of course, of what benefit is starting if you quit prematurely? Yet something in me just knew there was more to this verse that I needed to understand, so I began to look at the next line trying to establish what the connection may be.

“Patience is better than pride“. What does that have to do with starting and finishing? Here’s what I got. In order to start a thing, you need to take a bold step and there is a pride associated with launching out. People may applaud you, celebrate you, support you and encourage you, yet visible support can seem to wane over time. If you are a business owner, you probably can testify to this. Your friends and acquaintances supported your business at inauguration, bought your products, invested in your company and spread the word. Over time, there’s typically an interim where the enthusiasm from the crowd may have died down and the only voices you hear cheering you on are yours and God’s. And certainly, if your definition of success was tied to the responses of others, continuing and finishing would be hard. In that time, when the crowd is silent, the pride that may have boosted you for a bit has run out and if that was the gas in your car, undoubtedly your car must stop to refuel. It’s like putting regular gas in a premium car… performance and longevity will be compromised. Pride was never meant to be the gas in your tank. This is not just for businesses, it applies to anything you may have started. If like me, you’ve ever hit the brakes on executing your assignment for a period of time, it can be easier to neglect what you’ve started than resume it. It requires humility to be patient and it requires humility to start again. It takes patience to endure, especially when you are yet to see the fruit of your labour. The test of humility and patience is in continuity.

Now listennn, continuity is harder than it sounds. Consistency takes commitment and grit. It takes resilience in the face of adversity and I think we all know that. Sometimes, our stopping is due to a lack of preparation or failure to count the cost. Jesus spoke about the cost of being a disciple and the need to count the cost. In that same context, He spoke about starting and not finishing and the ridicule that could come from that;

²⁸ “For who would begin construction of a building without first calculating the cost to see if there is enough money to finish it? ²⁹ Otherwise, you might complete only the foundation before running out of money, and then everyone would laugh at you. ³⁰ They would say, ‘There’s the person who started that building and couldn’t afford to finish it!’ [Luke 14:25-30]

Other times, stopping or pausing is due to factors beyond our control, plain old life life’ing. When life smacks you in the face and causes you to take your foot off the gas for an extended period of time, starting up that engine again can be intimidating. How do I get back on track? How do I start to explain myself to all the people I left waiting? Where exactly do I start from? Am I still relevant? Will my audience still support me? How long do I have to keep going to see results again? Did I miss my window? These are all the questions that swarm our mind. The weariness from overthinking can paralyze us, but patience and endurance as we obey can stabilize us while we wait for our obedience to yield results. That’s it. Debunking it in this way made me think – the patience developed from continuing to the finish line is better than the pride of starting. There’s a promise at the finish line. Paul says it this way “Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised.“[Heb 10:36]

“Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised.“[Heb 10:36]

Listen, I personally do not recall anyone speaking to me about the shame that sometimes comes from falling off. I don’t think we often talk about how much humility it takes to resume a thing in public. In the verses we referenced earlier – Luke 14:25-30, Jesus painted a picture of people laughing at the one who stopped mid-project. He shared this story to make a point about the importance of counting the cost of choosing to be a disciple but something that really caught my attention in this story is the response of the crowd and its possible effects on the person building. Feeling weary and stuck in the middle can be exhausting and maybe even embarrassing especially when there was a crowd witnessing you build. People may ridicule you and mock you because you did not keep the momentum. Sometimes, all the judgement we imagine in our minds makes it easier to just call it quits because we don’t want to fail again publicly. But it requires focus, and something bigger than you to despise the perceived shame and press on. Regardless of whether you had legitimate reasons to stop, or it was due to your failure to prepare, getting back on the horse requires humility. It has to be less about what people may say and more about what God says. It has to be less about how you feel and more about principles.

I keep thinking about this viral video in which there was one runner that fell behind significantly but limped their way past the finish line anyways, you may have seen it too. In this particular one I watched, this one runner just kept falling but though she was already in last place, she refused to give up. She was determined to finish the race so she continually got up each time she fell till she eventually limped her way across the finish line. It was a public marathon so there was a huge crowd that witnessed her fall repeatedly but that did not stop her. I’m certain she could hear all the “ooohs” and “aahhhs” from the crowd(probably pretty embarrassing) but she set her eyes on something bigger – finishing the assignment. Because she finished, that video, to me, is far from embarrassing… it’s inspiring. She got the satisfaction of completion.

Paul had a healthy disposition that I believe it would benefit us all to adopt. He had the stance that His life was simply for the glory of God and therefore, finishing His God-given assignment is what made his life worth-while. He said in Acts 20:24, “But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus – the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.“ [Acts 20:24]“. You’ve got to get back up. [Also let me be very clear, this post is not about every single thing we start, some things need to be stopped. It is however about the things God has assigned to us that He is still waiting on us to complete. More often than not, we know when we’re out of place. The Holy Spirit is an expert in making things abundantly clear whether He’s simply nudging us to move by inducing a holy restlessness, confirming His instruction through many mediums or just that “knowing” on the inside. He is there to lead us. We must be careful not to muffle His voice or quench the Spirit by continually dismissing and disobeying (ohh the conviction!)].

So let me ask you, what have you started and stopped? What assignment have you deserted midway that the Lord is waiting on you to complete? Have you left your post? It’s not too late to get back. Humble yourself and get back on course. Begin again if you must, but I’ll tell you something, many times we just need to continue from where we left off. Our God is a God of restoration and a redeemer of time. Assess those things and ask the Holy Spirit to give you the courage to continue or begin again. The humility to get low and continue will not go unrewarded. Remember, though your obedience is for many beneficiaries, you must work for the audience of one. For the glory of The One. Finishing will not go unrewarded. I pray that just like Paul, we will all finish and declare;

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” [2 Tim 4:7]

I encourage you to watch this super practical and relatable video by Chrystal Hurst I’ve embedded below. It blessed me and I trust it will bless you too.
You’ve got this! Go and FINISH.
Love you and God loves you more 💕

Readers: Note that the email address and logging in prompts do appear for comments on this blog, but providing an email address and logging in are NOT required. Do leave a comment, I would love to hear from you!