Finishing What we Start


A preacher, who shall we say was "humor impaired," attended a conference to help encourage and better equip preachers for their ministry.

Among the presenters were many well-known and dynamic speakers. One such boldly approached the pulpit and, gathering the entire crowd's attention, said, "The best years of my life were spent in the arms of a woman that wasn't my wife!" The crowd was shocked! He followed up by saying, "And that woman was my mother!"

The crowd burst into laughter and he delivered the rest of his talk, which went over quite well.

The next week, the preacher decided he'd give this humor thing a try and use that joke in his sermon. As he approached the pulpit that sunny Sunday, he tried to rehearse the joke in his head. It suddenly seemed a bit foggy to him.

Getting to the microphone, he said loudly, "The greatest years of my life were spent in the arms of another woman that was not my wife!"

The congregation inhaled half the air in the room.

After standing there for almost 10 seconds in the stunned silence, trying to recall the second half of the joke, the preacher finally blurted out, "...and I can't remember who she was!"

It's important to finish what we start. If we don't finish a joke that we start, it can be rather embarrassing. And, as Jesus pointed out, if we don't finish a tower that we begin building because money runs out, that can be embarrassing, too (Luke 14:28-30). The point Jesus is making in that passage is that we need to "count the cost" and consider whether we are willing to finish what we start when it comes to following Him.

Demas is a somewhat mysterious character in the New Testament. He is mentioned in Colossians 4 and Philemon as a fellow laborer of Paul. But then, in 2 Timothy 4:10, Paul penned those words that will forever define what we think about Demas: "For Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world..."

Did he forsake the Lord as well as forsaking Paul? If so, did he ever come back? Those are questions that will remain unanswered in this lifetime. But Demas' example serves to remind us that it's not important how we start the race -- it's important that we finish it.

Alan Smith alansmith.servant@gmail.com

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