You Shall End Well
Did you ever play the first to blink game while growing up? This is a game mainly played by children, where two children keep their eyes open and stare into each other’s eyes for as long as possible. In this game, you must not get distracted, because as soon as you blink your eyes, you are out of the game, the game is over, and the person whose eyes remained focused without blinking is declared the winner.
Every day the devil throws temptations at us to get us distracted, lose focus and drift away from God. This age old tactic of the devil started in the Garden of Eden and he is still very much at it today. The reason why the devil puts every trick and scheme he has into getting us to take our eyes off the Lord is because he knows that if we get distracted, if we lose focus like in the first to blink game, we won’t end well, we won’t be declared ‘winners’ and given the ‘prize’; the imperishable crown of eternal life (1 Corinthians 9:24). Yes, Jesus has disarmed on the cross and made a public spectacle of all principalities and evil powers against us (Colossians 2:14) and 1 John 5:4 tells us that everyone born of God overcomes the world, but these verses have meaning and effect in the lives of those whose eyes are continually on the Lord and live for the Lord, not those whose heart, focus, interest and eyes are on the ground; are absorbed with the things of this world.
From the moment Jesus was born, to the point when He ascended to heaven, Jesus remained focused on God. There was nothing grand and impressive about His beginning. His life started in a manger, things didn’t get any better as He grew older, He kept moving from one challenge to the other till eventually He was crucified, but by remaining consistently focused on God and what God had sent Him to accomplish here on earth, Jesus ended well, He ended at the right hand of God, seated in glory and majesty (Hebrews 1:3).
You shall end well is a promise for everyone who looks sincerely, steadily and dedicatedly on the Lord. Hebrews 12: 2 says ‘Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God’. This verse is simply telling us that Jesus ended well and if we look unto Him, make Him our focus, don’t get distracted and take our eyes off the Lord, we will certainly end well. You may be mocked, insulted, despised and rejected. Those closest to you may be the ones to betray you and stab you in the back. Those you trust may abandon you when you desperately need their help and support, but all that should not make you take your eyes off the Lord. Whatever pain, whatever hardship, whatever trial you are going through today, Jesus has been through them, He survived them, He overcame them, and ended well.
As the year draws to an end, don’t allow what you see today discourage you to the point that you start looking in the wrong places and on the wrong people for help. Don’t allow the problems you are facing today make you lose sight of what God is doing. You may not see it, you may not feel it, but God is doing something about what you are going through, He never sleeps nor slumbers. As young children playing the first to blink game, set their faces on one another with a determination not to lose focus and blink, we should set our face as a flint, we should with all determination fix our eyes on the Lord (Isaiah 50:7) and not allow any person, problem or situation make us look backwards and return back to a life without God or make us look sideways; on other people and things outside of God for help and fulfilment.
If your eyes are on the Lord, then though the beginning of this year was small; nothing much or outstanding has happened to you since the year began, you shall end this year well with abundant blessings and testimonies from God. If you keep looking unto the Lord, no matter what comes your way, no matter the danger that abounds or the sad and depressing breaking news flying all over the place, you shall end this year well, strong, protected and with a peace like a river calming your heart. If you look away from everything that wants to distract you and focus your eyes on Jesus, you shall end well; you shall finish your race and sojourn here on earth with an eternal prize reserved for you in heaven which can never wither, spoil or fade away.
PHOTO CREDIT: Matt Botsford on Unsplash
