R on Sider
Finishing Well Pete Hammond was a friend with a special word of wise counsel. We did not see each other often, and he went to be with the Lord about a year ago, but several times when we were together, Pete said to me, “Finish well, Ron.” Coming from Pete, it was an exhortation that I took seriously. He was a friend of many evangelical leaders. For decades, he was a top executive with InterVarsity. He was a board member of Christianity Today. And he spearheaded several innovative, influential projects that helped Christians take Christ into the workplace. So when Pete Hammond urged me to finish well, I listened. We both knew so many Christian leaders—often after decades of fruitful ministry—who fell into blatant sin, disgraced their families, devastated their ministries, and grieved their Lord. It is so easy to fall into the devil’s trap. After years of very successful ministry, leaders sometimes come to feel that the normal rules do not apply to them. Under intense pressure, they rationalize disobedience. They betray spouse, family, congregation—all the people who trusted them. And the scandals undermine the gospel. Many turn away in disgust and scorn. We all need someone to ask us, “Are you finishing well? Are you on track to finish the course and keep
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faith with Christ and his people?” Nor is it just those who are in their 50s, 60s, or 70s who need to ponder this question. My worst time of struggle and temptation came before I was 40. The devil’s temptation to adultery was strongest just a couple years after my Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger came out. Thank God, I knew my Lord hated adultery. God’s holy commands protected me from destroying my family and a lifetime of ministry, almost before it got started. We need friends to ask us whether we are remaining faithful on the journey in every period of our life. But at my age, the counsel feels especially relevant: “Finish well, Ron.” One line in my prayer diary that I use regularly urges me to ask for divine strength to do just that. I beg God to help me avoid disgracing the Lord I adore. I ask for strength to bring joy to my God. God has no need for tiny little me. But I do believe the awesome Creator of the galaxies is filled with joy when one infinitesimal, insignificant person on a tiny planet in a small solar system in a modest galaxy loves and obeys him. I know I cannot do that in my own strength, so I pray for divine help. Recently that has taken the form of a homespun trinitarian prayer ritual. For years, I have ended my prayer confession and request for forgiveness with a petition to Christ. I look into the face of Christ and ask him to transform
me daily more and more into his very image (2 Corinthians 3:18). Somewhat later I added a second step. I have long been amazed by St. Paul’s teaching that the Holy Spirit prays for us with groans too deep for utterance (Romans 8:26). In our weakness, we do not always know how to pray. But the Spirit intercedes for us according to the will of God. What a wonderful promise. So right after asking the Risen Lord to make me more like him, I ask the Holy Spirit to pray for me—this day and always—with groans too deep for human understanding. Only quite recently did I add a third part to this section of my private devotions. I now conclude with a prayer to the Father. My friend and New Testament scholar Craig Keener says that “leave me not in temptation”—rather than “lead me not into temptation”— is a proper translation of that part of the prayer Jesus taught us to address to the Father. I know I regularly face temptation, so I ask fervently that my Heavenly Father will not leave me in the midst of temptation but rather will deliver me from the evil one’s snares. Regularly, I use that trinitarian ritual. I look into the face of my Lord Jesus and ask him to make me more like him. I plead with the Holy Spirit to speak with the Father and the Son on my behalf. And I beg the Father to stay with me and deliver me from temptation. In the power of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, it is possible to finish well. Please God, grant me that grace—today and every day until I see you face to face.
Ron Sider is the founder and president of Evangelicals for Social Action, author of dozens of books, and professor of theology/holistic ministry/public policy at Palmer Seminary of Eastern University.