I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Friday morning, the 16th of August, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in the Book of Philippians 3:14.  Paul the Apostle says:

“I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

Pressing hard towards the finish line! Do not tap off at the end. If you forget everything else about this message, don’t forget what I have just said. Do not tap off, but rather press hard right through to the finish line. Run right through that finish tape, and Jesus is waiting for you and me, right behind that line with arms wide open, saying, “Well done, good and faithful servant! Come and enter into thy rest.” 

Last night I was watching the Olympic Games and these amazing athletes, breaking world records and doing the most amazing things. They have been training hard for years for that one last half second to get the gold medal. The race was one of those middle-distance races, and the one man had it all sewn up. He was far ahead of everybody else and he was coming towards the finish line and he tapped off, just for a moment folks, I think he had 10 metres to run and he was quite relaxed, he thought he had it in the bag, and out of the blue, one of his opponents came screaming through and took the gold medal. He was devastated, I could see it on his face, he couldn’t believe it, he tapped off right at the end. He had 10 metres to go, and he would have got the gold medal and been the champion of the world, but he had to settle for the silver medal because he did not finish his race strong. He did not run right to the very end of the race.

I want to say to you today, and I am talking to myself, we need to finish strong. The Lord is not interested in good starters, He is interested in good finishers, and the only way we are going to do that is to keep ourselves focused on the goal, right to the end. I am talking about the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 

Today, concentrate on finishing your race, don’t be concerned about getting everybody else into line. Make sure that you yourself are focused on your race and you will win it with a gold medal.

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye.