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“I have finished the race” (2 Timothy 4:7 JND).
The pathway of the Christian is like a race, and in Philippians 3 the Apostle Paul describes that race. The goal at the end is to be perfectly like Christ, and although this will not happen until we are safely at home with Him in heaven, yet we are to be running toward that goal now.
When Paul said that he had finished the race, he did not mean that he was perfectly like Christ, but rather that his life in this world had come to an end. In one sense every believer will finish the race, but it is good to finish that race in the right way.
We notice, however, that Paul was careful in his language. He said that he had finished the race; there was only One, the Lord Jesus Christ, who could say at the end of His life in this world, “I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do” (John 17:4). Paul was one of the most faithful and diligent workers the Lord ever had, yet even he did not do everything the Lord gave him to do. Only our Lord Jesus completed all the work that was given Him.
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