Finish What You Start

Rev. Nigel D. Felder

Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there. (Genesis 11:31 NIV)

It is much easier to start something than to finish it. There is an old adage that says, ‘it is not how you start but how you finish.’  When I was in graduate school, it became very difficult. I had to finish my undergraduate degree and work toward my Masters degree simultaneously. At one point, I realized all my life I had found ways to quit. I begin to see, all my life, when the going got tough, I found reason to justify quitting. I had to learn that success in dealing with the secular and the sacred is not contingent on the start of a thing but rather how you finish a thing.

There is something that beckons us to greatness that God does not want us to just start good ideas, or just begin great projects and not finish them. Like me you have probably failed to finish school, doing one semester and leaving three more semesters undone. You may have begun a project around the house or the office or even at your local church; will you finish anything? As a new convert, one is usually in church shouting, praising and rolling around but after they get blessed, they sit in church like God owes them something. You have to learn to finish something.

In the text, God told Terah to move his entire family. The place that Abraham and his family were living in was not where they were to die. Where you are right now may not be where you are supposed to be forever. The anointing the Lord is releasing on you is not for individual advancement nor is it for personal gain, but it is to shift your entire family. God promised to take Terah out of Ur of the Chaldeans.

Ur translates means, the place of fire. God is shifting you from an area in your life where you may have been under attack, and persecution. God wanted to take the Terah from Ur to a place called Canaan- the place of promise.

On their way from Ur the place of fire and persecution to Canaan the place of promise, something happened. Halfway to their destination they got to a place called Haran. Haran is one of the wealthiest regions in the east.

In “Haran” they had the best schools, best university, and water plumbing system. The problem was that as good as “Haran” looked, it was not the promise. The Promise was Canaan. Some people could be confused. Because they have a job or degree, they might think they have arrived. There is more for you than what you have now. It is easy to become comfortable and complacent because where you are could be better than where you come from. Do not be satisfied with second best.

Just like in the text, most of us go half way because we can’t go on after a person leaves us. After the breakup, or divorce, you may feel like the world has come to an end. Don’t rely on a person, because when they are no longer with you, God has promised to never leave you or forsake you and will deliver you to your promise.

The Lord has anointed you to go further than your father. Where your father would have stopped and quit, God put some extra kick in you not to stop and fall short of where your predecessors stopped. Some of you have perfect fathers but if you want God to stretch you to go beyond where you father was able to go, I dare you to finish something. God told Abraham that when you finish, I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you. Genesis 12:1-3 NIV

The Lord spoke to Abraham in Haran, the half way place where his father had quit and where everything seem to be going well. God told Abraham to pack up and move. He was doing well, but God had more for him at the place of promise. Imagine what God has for you when you finish up? The lord has got more for you. God told Abraham to do what nobody in his family had ever done to FINISH! You are probably comfortable in your “Haran”. However, that is not your place, go all the way and finally finish something.

Rev. Nigel D. Felder

Louisville, Kentucky