How to Finish Strong When Your Faith Has Grown Cold
There's a version of the Christian life that starts with real fire and gradually cools into something you can barely feel anymore. In this episode, discover what finishing strong actually looks like when the urgency is gone and the pace has slowed.
Carol Wright was 69 years old when she decided to run a half marathon. She'd never been a runner. But she started training, and she finished. Then she kept going. By 2014 she'd completed her first full marathon. In 2022 and 2023 she failed to qualify for the Boston Marathon. Most people her age would have called it a good run and moved on.
Carol went back to training.
In April 2024, she crossed the finish line at the Boston Marathon at age 82. She won her age division. She was the oldest finisher in the entire race that year. When someone asked what she'd tell others who feel like giving up, she said: don't stop. She had no dramatic ending in mind. She just kept showing up for the next training run.
That's the image this episode builds around. Because finishing strong in the Christian life looks a lot more like Carol's story than most of us expect.
There's a version of faith that starts with real fire and gradually cools into something you can barely feel anymore. You still show up. You go through the motions. But somewhere along the way the urgency left, and you can't quite pinpoint when. That's not a rare experience. It's one of the most common ones I hear about as a pastor.
Near the end of his life, writing from a prison cell in Rome, Paul told Timothy something worth sitting with. He said he'd fought the good fight, finished the race, and remained faithful. He was about to be executed. He'd been shipwrecked, beaten, imprisoned, and abandoned by people he loved. And what he said was: I finished.
He didn't say he won every battle or that he always felt the fire. He said he stayed in it. That kind of ending doesn't happen by accident. It happens because someone kept choosing to take the next step, on the days it cost them and the days it didn't.
Hebrews 12:1 calls it running with endurance. Endurance is a decision. And the good news is that you don't have to manufacture feelings you don't have. You just have to take the next step.
BY THE TIME YOU FINISH LISTENING, YOU'LL DISCOVER:
- Why a faith that feels flat can still be a faith that finishes, and what Paul's words from prison reveal about what finishing well actually looks like
- What endurance looks like on the days when passion isn't available
- One specific step you can take this week to close the distance between where you are and where you want to be
Finishing strong doesn't always look like passion. Sometimes it just looks like the next step.
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Carol Wright was 69 years old when she decided to
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run a half-marathon. She was on the phone with her daughter, Amy,
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who had just finished a 5K and told her she was planning a
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half-marathon the following year. Carol had never been a runner,
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but something in that conversation got to her, and she
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started training. Her coach, a high school cross-country coach
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named Mike, laughed when she told him her goal. Then he took
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another look at her and said he thought she could do it. He said
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it was because she wanted to. She ran a half-marathon in
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September, and she beat her daughter. By 2014, Carol had
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completed her first full marathon. Then she kept going
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after that, year after year, but in 2022 and 2023, she failed to
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qualify for the Boston Marathon. Most people her age would have
Track 1 00:00:50
called it a good run and moved on. But Carol, she went back to
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training. We'll come back to what happened next. But first...
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Welcome to Daily Devotions for Busy Lives. I'm Bart Leger. Not
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long after Catherine and I got married, something grew cold in
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our spiritual lives. We didn't stop going to church. We kept
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showing up, but we drifted away from our close relationship with
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God. We stopped tithing, and we let time in God's word slip away.
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From the outside, not much looked different. But on the
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inside, we both knew we weren't as faithful as we used to be.
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Eventually, we found our way back. opening the Bible again
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and getting faithful again in our devotion to God. I'm telling
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you that because I want you to know I'm not talking about
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something theoretical today. There's a version of the
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Christian life that starts with real fire and gradually cools
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into something you can barely feel anymore. You still show up,
Track 1 00:01:54
and you may still be going through the motions. The
Track 1 00:01:57
language is still there, but there's somewhere along the way
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the urgency left, and you can't quite pinpoint when. That's not
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a rare experience. It's probably one of the most common ones I
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see as a pastor. It doesn't mean you've lost your salvation or
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God's love. It means you're a human being in a long race.
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Here's what Paul wrote near the very end of his life from a
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prison cell in Rome. In 2 Timothy 4, 7 and 8.
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He was about to be executed. He'd been shipwrecked, beaten,
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imprisoned, and abandoned by people he loved. And what he
Track 1 00:02:50
said was, I finished. He didn't say he won every battle or he
Track 1 00:02:55
always felt the fire. He said he finished the race. He stayed in
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it. And at the end, looking back, that was the thing he wanted
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Timothy to know. That kind of ending doesn't happen by
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accident. It happens because someone kept choosing to take
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the next step. on the days it cost them and the days it didn't.
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Paul says he fought the good fight, finished the race, and
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stayed faithful. I'm sure these words didn't mean he felt super
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energized every day. A fight implies resistance. Remaining
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faithful implies there were days when faithfulness was a choice
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and not a feeling. The Christian life is not a sprint. It's a
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long race. And long races have miles where you don't feel like
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running. Your legs are heavy and the finish line isn't visible.
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Have I mentioned before that I hate running? And the question
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in those miles is whether you'll take the next step anyway.
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That's what finishing strong looks like. It doesn't always
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look like setting the world on fire. Sometimes it looks like
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showing up on a Tuesday morning when you don't feel anything and
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you're opening up your Bible anyway. Sometimes it means
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giving when you'd rather keep it or staying in a church community
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when it would be easier to simply drift away. calls it
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running with endurance. Endurance is a decision. You
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don't have to manufacture feelings you don't have. You
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just have to take the next step. Now, let's get back to Carol. In
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April 2024, Carol Wright crossed the finish line at the Boston
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Marathon in 5 hours and 54 minutes. She was 82. She won her
Track 1 00:04:32
age division. She was the oldest finisher in the entire race that
Track 1 00:04:36
year. Afterward, someone asked her what she would tell others
Track 1 00:04:40
who feel like giving up. She said, don't stop. When she
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couldn't qualify, it didn't keep her from trying. When she set a
Track 1 00:04:47
new personal record and got back in, she said she was elated. She
Track 1 00:04:52
had no dramatic ending in mind. She just kept showing up for the
Track 1 00:04:55
next training run. And that's the whole thing. Carol didn't
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finish at 82 because she felt like a runner at 69. She
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finished because she started. And then she kept going. Year
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after year. One training run at a time. That's what Paul's
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finish line looked like, I believe. Not one great moment of
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triumph, but a lifetime of next steps. Here's today's challenge.
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Don't wait until you feel like you have the fire again. Take
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one specific thing you've let slip in your walk with God. It
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doesn't have to be dramatic. Maybe it's a quiet time that
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you've been missing for a few weeks, maybe even months, or a
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giving habit you've been meaning to restart. Pick one thing and
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take one step back toward it this week. Don't wait until you
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feel the fire again. Just take the step. The feeling tends to
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follow the obedience. Lord, some of us are tired and the race has
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been long and the fire that used to come easily doesn't come as
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easily as it did. Would you meet us there? Give us the grace to
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keep going on the days we don't feel like it. And remind us that
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finishing is the goal and that every step we take towards you
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counts. Thank you for the prize that awaits. Help us run toward
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it. In Jesus' name, amen. If this episode encouraged you
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today, I'd love to hear from you. You can leave me a voicemail at
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dailydevotionsforbusylives.com slash voicemail.
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to pray for you by name. Thanks for joining me on Daily
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Devotions for Busy Lives. Remember, finishing strong
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doesn't always look like passion. Sometimes it just looks like the
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next step. Come back next time for more encouragement to help
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you live grounded in God's truth. Until then, God bless and have a
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great day.
