It Is Not How We Begin, But How We Finish

In the game of life, it is not how well you start but how you finish that matters.

In my book 'Fourth Quarter: Enduring Leadership Lessons That Will Leave a Legacy',

I state on the back cover these words, “In the game of life, how we play matters. It is the fourth quarter, not the first quarter that defines our legacy; and our legacy will leave its mark whether good or bad on the generations to come.

How we finish and the legacy we leave for the kingdom is what ultimately matters.

And that legacy starts right now whether you are a teenager, a young adult in your

twenties or thirties, a midlife person in your 40’s or 50’s or someone like me, a senior

saint who this past year by God’s grace saw God bring me to three score and ten or 70

years of age. Who even though you might be in the fourth quarter of your life, there is

still more game to be played for the glory of God.” Adapted from Fourth Quarter: Church

Smart Resources. Dr. Dwight Perry. The question that thus needs to be addressed is

how I can finish strong so that the legacy that I leave brings glory and not shame to the

name of God.

Allow me to share with you three critical questions that I would challenge you to ask

yourself every day.

1. How is my love for Jesus doing? The greatest commandment is not to go out and

get as many degrees as you can, now please do not misread me, there is

nothing inherently wrong with obtaining excellence in your educational and

vocational background. However, the greatest commandment is to Love God.

Am I growing in my understanding and application of His Word? Am I growing in my

intimacy with Jesus in prayer?

2. How is my love for people? The greatest commandment is to Love God, but the

second greatest is to Love people. How am I doing in loving those, who do not

love me back, as a matter of fact who hurt me whether intentional or not?

Am I growing in my ability to forgive others as Jesus has forgiven me. Am I growing in

my dependency on God’s spirit to express through me the fruits of the spirit

Galatians 5:22, 23 to those around me.

3. How am I doing in focusing my time on those priorities that God has called me to

do in spite all the voices to the contrary? Am I growing in my ability to discern not

just between something that is good and bad, but between something that is

good from something that is best?

Remember It is not how you start, it is how you finish. As a leader focus everyday

on these three core questions and God by His grace will sustain you to Finish

Well.