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Crossing The Finish Line

Crossing the Finish LineBy: Craig W. Hagin

“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.” — Hebrews 12 : 1

God has a plan and purpose for every one of us. And He wants each of us to run our race in line with His plan. But to complete our race, we will have to lay aside the weights that are holding us back from accomplishing what God has called us to do.


Identifying these weights can be both easy and difficult. A weight can be something as obvious as watching television when you should be spending time with the Lord. Today, the Internet can be a weight as more and more people are spending hours on social networking sites.

At one time, playing video games was a weight for me. I’m very competitive and have stayed up all night trying to beat a game level. I’ve even stayed up every night of the week playing video games. Nothing of value was accomplished, and what I needed to do throughout the week was affected by my lack of sleep.

Weights that might not be so obvious include shyness or anger issues. I was very shy in high school. Shyness was a weight I had to overcome to fulfill the call on my life. In the Book of Acts, we see the believers praying for boldness to preach the Gospel (Acts 4:29).

Other weights can include relationships. By no means am I trying to suggest that dating is wrong. But sometimes people can become so engrossed in dating relationships that they don’t take care of necessary responsibilities in their everyday lives.

Weights are things that keep us from running our race. Whether it is something that steals our time or hinders us from stepping out, we must shake off any weight that prevents us from fulfilling our purpose in life.

Hebrews 12:1 says, “. . . let us run with patience. . . .” This is letting us know that our race may not go as fast as we want it to.

My grandfather Kenneth E. Hagin had been pasturing for nearly 12 years when the Lord told him that he was about to enter the first phase of his ministry. It took him nearly 12 years to get to the point where he was ready to enter the first phase of what God wanted him to do. But if my grandfather hadn’t spent this time pastoring, he would not have been able to accomplish what God had called him to do.

Notice that Hebrews 12:1 also tells us to run “. . . the race that is set before us.” We have to focus on our race, not another person’s. Just because someone else is doing something doesn’t mean that God wants us to do the same thing. We don’t win our race if we run in someone else’s lane. Although we may be a blessing to people along the way, we won’t hear, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant!” when we stand before the Lord.

And finally, we have to realize that our race is a marathon, not a sprint. Our race will span our entire life. So we must run with perseverance. Perseverance means “the ability to bear difficulties calmly and without complaint.”

Perseverance keeps going when others have quit. And it’s not bothered by the mistakes we make. It keeps getting back up and moving forward. It keeps trying again, and again, and again.

No matter what we encounter during the course of our race, we can finish. Philippians 4:13 says, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” There may be days when we think we can’t make it—that we’re not going to finish. But those thoughts are not from God. They’re from the devil. He will try to stop us from running our race, but we must stand strong in the Word and keep running.

We can do all things through Christ Who strengthens us. When we say, “I can’t,” we are speaking contrary to the Word of God. The Bible says we can. Many people try to run their race in their own strength. In ourselves, we can only do so much. But in God, we can do all things!

Let’s pick up the baton and run the course that God has laid out for us. And let’s make the decision not only to run our race, but also to finish it!