To conclude on our subject of starting well and finishing well and strong, we draw attention to the strong possibility of the contrary happening. We take two examples. One from the Old Testament and the other in the New Testament.

Consider the heredity of Eliashib the priest named in Nehemiah 3:1.

Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brethren the priests, and they builded the sheep gate; they sanctified it, and set up the doors of it; even unto the tower of Meah they sanctified it, unto the tower of Hananeel

These gates represented that Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God and how He would be sacrificed for our sins on the cross. The sheep gate, the first gate mentioned and the last gate symbolic of everything begins and ends at the Cross. Yet this same Eliashib is recorded in Nehemiah 13:4-5,7 and 28 as:

And before this, Eliashib the priest, having the oversight of the chamber of the house of our God, was allied unto Tobiah: and he had prepared for him a great chamber, where aforetime they laid the meat offerings, the frankincense, and the vessels, and the tithes of the corn, the new wine, and the oil, which was commanded to be given to the Levites, and the singers, and the porters; and the offerings of the priests… And I came to Jerusalem, and understood of the evil that Eliashib did for Tobiah, in preparing him a chamber in the courts of the house of God…And one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was son in law to Sanballat the Horonite: therefore, I chased him from me.

What an end, not just for this man, but the effect passed to his heritage!

Our New Testament example is the well know case of Demas, who started as close associate of Apostle Paul (Colossians 4:14) but ditched Paul after his repeated jailing (2 Timothy 4:10). Demas could no longer reconcile Paul’s situation with his own life perspectives and left him for the world.

There was a common thread to the lives of these two examples — association with the ungodly and implied greed for earthly rewards. In this race, the possibility of drawing back is strong and demands constant re-evaluation of our lives as believers. Are you still in the race for our promised home? Selah.

Pastor Afolabi Oladele