“Finish the Race”

10 Things To Help the Young Man Finish the Race of Life Well

Today we celebrate the high school graduation of seven young men. And I have the privilege of talking to seven young men who are about the enter into life. They have been prepared by a solid education and supported by loving parents.

So as a man who has not yet finished the race of life, but has just passed the half-way-point I would like to give you 10 things to consider so that you can finish the race well. I am still learning and growing, but I have learned a couple of things along the way that I want to pass on you. Ultimately, I want to be like the apostle Paul who, facing the end of his life said, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” How does a man finish well?

Here are ten things to help you finish well (as you are getting started):

1. Invest Your Life In Something That Is Noble.

Jesus says in Matthew 6:19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” You have 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for the rest of your life to accomplish something. Let’s say you live to be 80, and let’s say you are 17 right now – that’s 63 years to accomplish something (or not). Starting right now you have 33,112,800 Minutes, 552,264 Hours, 23,011 Days.

So what do you do with all that time? You can build something, but build something that will last. Build something that you will get the most return on all those years of work. There will be a huge temptation as a young man to build an empire in your name. Countless men have spent the years of their youth building their own little empire which in time will crumble, while neglecting the kingdom that will last forever. There will be a time when the sand in the hour glass starts moving really fast, and I don’t want you to look back over your life a regret any wasted years. Find something noble to invest your life in and invest in it early.

2. When You Fail, Get Back Up.

Anything that has the potential for change, opportunity, expansion, gain will always involve risk. With something new, there is the potential for pain, embarrassment, and financial loss. In the economic market, if you play it safe there are small returns, and if you want huge gains there is high risk. And when you take the risks, and make the jumps – you won’t always make it.

Thomas Edison had 2,774 failures before he discovered the lightbulb that was sustainable. Find something worth investing your life into and keep pushing for innovation and build it – no matter how many times you fail, keep getting back up.

If you are building something there will come a time when the floor beneath your feet will collapse and you will fall. Those men who do not try to accomplish anything will never have failed, that is true. If you don’t try, you don’t fail – but you also don’t build anything. But let me push you to try. Join the small group of men who do the difficult things.

Theodore Roosevelt said, “It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause;”[1]

3. Be Careful Whom You Listen To For Advice.

If you want to be a successful doctor, then go talk to a successful doctor. If you want to be a successful lawyer, then go talk to a successful lawyer. Everyone will give you advice and how you should do something (including me today), but be wise in who you allow you take up space in your head. Don’t waste your time with people who don’t know what they are talking about.

1 Kings 12 Rehoboam’s Mistake

4. Be Disciplined.

You become whatever you allow your heart to pursue. If you get up and go running once, then you are just tired. But, If you get up and run five times a week for a year then you are a runner. Anything of great value will cost you something (time, effort, sweat, tears, sacrifice, relationships with others). You cannot accomplish something of great value and have everything your heart wants; you have to make choices. But there are some things your heart will desire that will lead you off of a cliff to destruction.

Discipline is deciding there is something worth doing, and directing your heart toward it. You set goals, you make lists, you learn and educate yourself about it, you move money toward it, and then you build it – whatever the noble task may be (build a family, build a friendship, build a business, build a career, build a ministry, etc.) But the quality of what you are building is directly related to the discipline you put toward it. Things of good quality don’t just happen – it takes a lot of effort. This includes your reputation as a man.

5. Plant a Garden (Patience).

To take a seed and plant it in the ground will take weeks before you see any plant. Then from seed to the time the plant produces fruit will be months. In the meantime, you have to water it, protect it against insects and animals. But eventually, months after you plant the seed you will be have produce. But you can’t just plant the seed and leave – you have to tend the garden, pull weeds, and watch over it.

Most things of value in life are like a garden; growth takes time, relationships take time, those things that are important have to be protected and cultivated. You don’t just get stuff, you have to invest time and resources to produce something of quality.

6. Be Careful Who You Allow Into Your Castle (Relationships).

Be incredibly careful and diligent in what you allow into the noble task you are building. As a Husband, and father you are charged with protecting your family. You stand guard at the gate – don’t allow destruction into your home. You are building something (a ministry, a business, a new idea) be diligent in who you let into the gates.

There will come a day when you see a young woman and you may even have the courage to talk to her. She is beautiful, but after spending time with her, you begin to realize that her values and life direction is not the same as yours. If you continue in a relationship with a woman who is going in a different direction as you, it ends one of three ways 1) you part ways 2) she goes your way, or 3) you go her way. But you can’t stay together and go in opposite directions at the same time.

A yoke is a wooden beam that connects two large animals, like oxen, and helps them work equally and together. They carry the burden of work together. It would be attached to a plow or cart, and they’d pull it simultaneously as partners. Basically, they’re teamed up together. 2 Corinthians 6:14 “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?”

This is not just dating relationships, but business relationships, church relationships – as you are building your life, don’t allow yourself to get entangled in relationships that will pull you away from the eternal, “laying up for yourself treasures in heaven.” To the lost world these things are frivolous and foolish. Find people who can pull in the same direction with you.

There are people who love to kick down the sand castle you are building. They are in every church, every business, they are everywhere. These people don’t build, they only look for ways to tear down what others have built (or are trying to build). They stand to side and criticize and tell you why your idea won’t work. So, as you are guarding who you allow into the castle you are building, make sure you keep out those that want to burn it to the ground. It’s ok to say “no” to destructive people being in your life.  

7. Your Character Is What Determines Your Success.

Since I have been in ministry many of those who were with me in seminary aren’t in ministry any more. It was not their inability to keep up with technology, their ability to sway crowds with their words, even their ability to charm people with a smile – no, what go them in the end, before they could finish the race was their character.

Psalm 119:10-11 “How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. 10 With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! 11 I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.”

The first time you take something that is not yours to take, or exaggerate something to make yourself look better, or linger too long with someone’s spouse who is not your own while your heart goes pitta-patt, – you are on a downward path, and it is one that leads to your own destruction (those things have nothing to do with how many awards or degrees are on the wall). Guard your heart, put things into place so that you stay true to what you want to accomplish. Don’t allow a short-term emotion or temptation to wreck what you have built for decades.

8. Have Three Men In Your Life.

Most successful men I know don’t go around giving advice – but they are willing to share it when asked. I have known some wonderful wise men who were willing to invest in me as a young leader. But they did not approach me, I had to approach them. If you want to be a successful whatever, then ask the successful person in that field and ask them out to lunch, and pay for their lunch. Ask them to meet with you from time to time and invest in you – and more than likely they will.

But as a man, you need three men in your life: 1.) Paul represents that person in your life who mentors, leads, and directs you. 2.) Barnabas is someone who encourages you and holds you accountable in your faith and life. 3.) Timothy is that man you help guide along the road of faith and life.

9. Keep these Two Things On Hand; 1) A Joke and 2) Pocket Knife.

Life is hard, and you can bring joy and laughter into people’s lives with a simple joke. If people associate you with laughter and joy, then when you show up, simply your presence will make their lives easier. Seek to take the load off of others.

If it is in your pocket, you will use a pocket knife every day of your life. People will ask if you “have your pocket knife on you?” Don’t sit around and wait for others to move; look for ways to be a problem solver. Add value to whatever team you are on.

10. “Love the Lord Your God, With All Your Heart, All Your Soul, and With All Your Strength.” Luke 10:27

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[1] https://www.trcp.org/2011/01/18/it-is-not-the-critic-who-counts/