The Last Hundred Miles

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If you are like me, your attention was on your phone screens this past weekend as Russia experienced the closest thing to a real coup since 1917. The Wagner Group, a private military company, marched on Moscow because of working conditions. They were speeding towards their objective, a mere 123 miles from Moscow when their leader turned his troops around and went home. Hundreds of miles were conquered in hours, with public support, yet when the goal was in sight...the inability to capitalize.

What happened?

Before I answer that, let's contrast this with Jesus. Jesus started a movement in the first century focused on simplifying humanity's relationship with God. He actively protested against the religious powers, demanding a complex religion and living standards. Jesus slowly and methodically healed, taught, and challenged authority all the way into Jerusalem. Yet, when facing death by crucifixion, he finished the last mile. He poured out his life for everyone now and going forward into eternity for the forgiveness of sin for all.

So what's the difference here? Faith in calling. 

The leader of the Wagner Group lived with an inferiority complex. He needed to be publicly validated by the people around him, especially the leader of Russia. He was trying to do the heavy lifting with his own strength, and when we do this, we are bound to fail because our strength has limits. 

Now Jesus operated through the strength of God! God's will is eternal, it is boundless, it allows us to do all things through Christ! So when faced with his own death, Jesus poured out his life as a love offering for all. Not for himself, not for his ego, not for his fame, but for others. 

Going the last mile requires trusting God to do the hard work we as humans could never do in our own strength. So where in your life do you need to go the last mile? Where do you need to lose the ego and just trust that God will do good work in your life? The intersection of putting our focus on God's strength versus our own is where the power to go the last mile lies.

Eric Pone serves as a licensed local pastor at Bloomington Hillcrest UMC in the Minnesota Annual Conference and is a master of divinity candidate at St. Paul School of Theology in Leawood, Kansas. This post is republished with permission from his blog, "Seeking Salvation: Christianity, Faith, Methodism." To reproduce this content elsewhere, please contact the author via the link to his blog posted below.