Jonathan Edwards, the famous American preacher of the 1700s, wrote 70 resolutions while in school at Yale that have encouraged thousands long after he went to be with The Lord. The 9th resolution that he wrote was this:

9. Resolved, to think much on all occasions of my own dying, and of the common circumstances which attend death.

Seems pretty morbid right? I mean this kind of goes against the pop wisdom that encourages positive thinking. But when we look at the life of Jonathan Edwards, I don’t think that anyone could argue that he didn’t make the most of the time that God had given him. Perhaps old Jon was on to something.

I just completed The Rugged Maniac Adventure Race and it was awesome! It’s a mud run with all kinds of obstacles and tons of people. When running the race I was very much attentive to the fact that the race was a 5k. Had it only been a mile long, I would have run a lot harder and had it been 15 miles long, I would have gone a lot slower. The end of the race had everything to do with the pace that I chose and the manner in which I ran.

I think we have mostly forgotten this principle as it pertains to life. For each one of us our journey will someday come to an end. Whether you believe in the afterlife or not, you will not be on this planet forever. None of us knows the time of our departure but we know that it is coming. Should we not allow the end of our race to determine the manner in which we run?

At this point I could try to tell you what this principle should lead you to think but I’m going to intentionally leave it open-ended. What does moving forward with the end in mind cause you to think? I know what it causes me to think. It makes me feel like I need to spend a lot more time living for what I MOST value. It makes me want to love Jesus more and spread that love to others. I would take some time thinking about the end of the race so that you can decide how to best run.

The worst fate that I can imagine is getting to the end and wishing that you had run differently. Few pains sting to the degree and depth of regret. Choose now to move forward with the end in mind so that you can run this race the way that it was meant to be run.