Daily Devotional | Finishing Well

In June 2023, ultra-marathon runner, Courtney Dauwalter set a woman’s record finishing the Western States 100-mile race in 15 hours, 29 minutes, and 34 seconds. The previous record had stood for 11 years. When making the final turn toward the finish line, Dauwalter stated, “That was the moment I let myself actually believe that we had finished.”

In John 19, Jesus cried out, “It is finished” (v. 30). A casual observer of Jesus’ death could make the mistake of thinking that He was only referring to His earthly life. In other words, He was saying that His life was ending. However, that would be a shallow understanding of the significance of that phrase.

According to theologian J. Dwight Pentecost, the term was used in Greek commercial life to signify “the discharge of a debt by a completed payment.” Jesus, by His life and death, accomplished what we as fallen humans could not. He lived a sinless life that pleased God in every respect. He died a painful death as payment for the sins of fallen humanity. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21). The punishment that we (being guilty and unrighteous) should have received, Jesus (being innocent and righteous) endured. He made the way to God available to all.

Jesus completed His mission so that all who put their faith in Him may have eternal life (John 3:16). Since you’ve put your faith in Jesus, have you discovered your mission? And are you pursuing it?