It Is Finished

John 19:30 “When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.”

The Apostle Paul said, “I have finished my course.” Jesus too spoke these last words before He gave up the Ghost. He said, “It is finished.” Our goal in life ought to be that before we take our last breath, we can say, “It is finished,” meaning we did everything we were supposed to do, with no unfinished business left here on the Earth. The race God gave us in our mother’s womb, we ran and completed.

If every born-again believer would get that serious about the race set before them, there would be a lot more people getting born again, a lot more people being discipled, and a lot more nations reached with the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I have pastored a long time now and have had the privilege of walking many people home as they take their last breath. It is hard but rewarding to be with people you know and love as they move to Heaven. Over the course of a lot of years, I have never had someone say to me, “Pastor Mark, I wish I had a bigger house, a better car, or more money.” What they want to talk about is their service to God, their regrets of not doing everything the Lord told them to do. I guess it’s because it sets in that they’re soon appearing at the Judgment Seat, and they don’t need anyone to tell them whether they completed their course or not because they know, and so will we.

Just to let you know, the other big thing people always say to me is, “I wish I would have spent more time with my family.” Let’s not have any regrets as we draw our last breath. Let’s obey the Lord right now and spend as much time with our earthly and church family as possible. Let’s finish our course.

I will add this too. Life on Earth is short, and 80 or even 120 years will go by in the blink of an eye. The Lord calls it a vapor. Don’t put off everything until tomorrow because you think everything will be better, easier, and settled down. Do it today! Get started today before all your tomorrows are gone.