A pastor I know put in over 40 years of ministry. On the day of his retirement, the church celebrated in a big way and gave him a new automobile and many expressions of their thanks. A few days later, he announced he was leaving his wife. He divorced her, moved to another state and married a lady who had been his secretary. His abandoned wife was left in the town where they had served so many years to face the world and deal with the broken hearts and disappointed friends.

Anyone who spends Saturday afternoons watching football games has seen this happen. A team starts strong, moving the ball, scoring points, intimidating the opposition and impressing the fans. But after a quarter or two, they begin to fizzle. Either their first team grew tired or the reserves were unprepared or the other team figured out how to counter them. They lose the game which they had started so well.

No one gets credit on the scoreboard for having started well. It’s how you finish that tells the story.

The fun thing about pulling in an Old Testament story–particularly one from II Chronicles–is that so few people are familiar with them. To many, they’re hearing these tales for the first time. The account of King Asa is a perfect illustration for our point. It begins in II Chronicles chapter 14.

Asa reigned over the Southern Kingdom of Judah for a total of 41 years. In introducing him, the writer says rather ominously, “The land was undisturbed for ten years during his days.” (14:2) He started right.

From the first, Asa earned the approval of the Lord by tearing down the pagan altars, fortifying his cities, and building up the military. He spoke words of faith and trust and seemed to have been a good man. He was humble. When he heard a good sermon, he obeyed it. In chapter 15, the prophet Azariah preached to the king and the nation about faithfulness. At the end, Asa responded to the altar call. “When Asa heard these words and the prophecy which Azariah spoke, he took courage and removed the abominable idols…and restored the altar of the Lord….”

Asa led the people to make a great sacrifice to the Lord and led them into a covenant of obedience to God. He put his wicked grandmother out of business, removing her from the exalted position of queen mother due to her idolatry.

For the first 35 years of Asa’s reign, things went well. The enemies left the little nation alone and Asa was like a father to his people.

Then things went downhill.

In the 36th year of Asa’s reign, the king of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, a rascal named Baasha, brought his army up and beseiged Judah. On paper, Asa should have been ready. He had been building up his army for years. But when an actual threat loomed, he panicked.

Asa brought out gold and silver vessels from the Temple of God and sent them to the king of Syria, Ben-hadad, to buy his support. It’s worth noting that he purchased the protection which God was offering for nothing, and he used God’s vessels to do it. The Lord was not pleased. Ben-hadad knew a bargain when he saw one and took the job. His army frightened the Israeli forces and Baasha called off his little escapade and returned home. That was not, however, the end of the story. God had something to say.

The prophet Hanani showed up to tell Asa what the Lord thought of his foolishness in turning to a foreign, pagan king for security. In his brief sermon, Hanani uttered one of the great lines of Scripture: “The eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His.” (16:9) Reminiscent of the “I could’ve had a V-8” television commercial a few years back, the prophet was saying, “King, you could have had God’s favor! It is always available. But you blew it.”

Asa had been king for so long, he thought the throne was his personal possession. How dare this prophet criticize him. He grew angry and arrested Hanani. Then we read, “And Asa oppressed some of the people at the same time.” (16:10) He arrested one and enjoyed it so much he began to persecute others.

Then we read, “In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa became diseased in his feet. His disease was severe, yet even in his disease he did not seek the Lord….” (16:12)

Bible students can think of quite a number of scriptural characters who started well and finished poorly. King Saul may be the most obvious one in the Old Testament. And who better than Judas in the New?

“To finish strong” is an ideal goal for any organization and any individual. But for a Christian, it’s essential. Just on the other side of the finish line is the prize: Heaven itself and eternal reward beyond our fondest dreams.

I have read that trapeze artists and tightrope walkers are in their greatest peril just before taking that last step to safety. They’ve been in the spotlight, done the hard death-defying acts, and now they are finished. The only thing that remains is to get down from the heights and accept the applause. But because they let their guard down and become careless, they are in danger of falling to their deaths.

Never let your guard down. In one’s middle years, the temptations of youth are still there but they take other forms. In retirement, what we call one’s golden years, a new set of temptations will present itself. There is no time in this lifetime to drop one’s guard. We must be eternally vigilant, always faithful.

If you have stayed with me this far, I have a reward for you.

I’m going to tell you how to finish this life strong. How to go out with a flourish.

Live well and faithfully today. Read your Bible, pray, love everyone, serve God. Then, if God gives you tomorrow, do the same. If He grants you another day, then live the same way that day. Eventually, one day will be your last and you will go out with a flourish. You will finish strong.

A famous preacher used to tell of the piano lessons his mother taught him in childhood. Once, during a recital, he forgot the piece he was playing in the middle. He fumbled around and found his way back onto the music he had memorized, but was mortified in front of the audience. Afterwards, his mother gave him a word of advice he never forgot and which he applied to the rest of his life. “When you mess up in the middle of a recital, always finish with a flourish, and no one will ever remember.”

Someone reading this has lived decades in neglect of God and in pursuit of your own personal, perhaps selfish dreams. Now, you’ve come to the point where you realize the futility of that pursuit, and you grieve over the wasted years. There’s nothing wrong and everything right with mourning over wrong decisions, misspent resources, and bad choices. However, there’s still time to change. You cannot go back and undo what you have done, but you can start anew. That’s why the Gospel is good news. It allows you to start over.

A jeweler working on a diamond slips and cuts the precious gem in two. He has made a serious mistake and the cost will be enormous. But we note that he does not throw the two smaller pieces away. He sets out to shape each of the diamonds into new works of art. They will be smaller, the value will be less, but they are still precious jewels of great value.

God does not discard us when we do wrong. He allows us to repent and humble ourselves and to begin anew. Even for those of us who have done poorly for many years, it’s still possible to finish strong.