The Last Five Percent

I’ve always enjoyed movies depicting individuals who are able to overcome extreme odds. Guys like Indiana Jones, by the sweat of his brow, evading certain death to save his gal, seemed exciting, full of purpose. I guess something inside of me has always appreciated characters like that, fictional or otherwise. In many ways, it was a source of hope, be it misguided, for a young lost boy, like I was. I was searching for heroes, dreaming of becoming one. Then I met Jesus, who said that He came “to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10), and everything changed.The greatest work a believer can partake in is saving a soul. It’s heroic in a sense, but we are not the heroes, Jesus Christ is. We are merely His supporting cast. Nonetheless, our roles can be difficult.To help them keep perspective, I’ve taught my sons that just about everyone in this world can do ninety-five percent of the work that needs to be done (assuming their training is commensurate with their task). However, it’s the last five percent, often the most difficult part, which distinguishes between “mice and men”. In other words, if a person isn’t able to dig deep and find the reserves necessary, the “intestinal fortitude” as some might say, then chances are they will fall away at the point of greatest pressure and fail to complete their mission.Of course, there are a thousand and one excuses as to why a person cannot complete their labor. But as the apostle Paul said, it’s not about human will power, it’s about faith - faith in a purpose that transcends human rationalism, objectives, and hope. To those with faith go the crowns.I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.This all sounds so wearisome, huh? It certainly can be; especially the last five percent, the steepest incline, the greatest opposition to progress. Where are we going to find all of the energy to accomplish this? How about a tuna melt, a boiled egg, and a baby spinach salad…that ought to do it, no?!! While that sounds like a tasty, robust, nutritious meal, it’s sorely lacking. The fuel it provides will only take us so far. God has designed the “race” that Paul summarized above as a test of faith, not physical stamina. The prior precedes the latter.Physical food can never provide us with spiritual sustenance. However, spiritual food can indeed provide us with physical sustenance. It’s supernatural.Meanwhile the disciples were urging Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” But He said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” So the disciples were saying to one another, “No one brought Him anything to eat, did he?” 

Jesus *said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work.

“Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest. Already he who reaps is receiving wages and is gathering fruit for life eternal; so that he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. For in this case the saying is true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored and you have entered into their labor.”Jesus understood that in order to finish the race, to carry His own cross, it would be a function of faith, of spiritual nourishment, not physical food. While the disciples were concerned about human sustenance, Jesus taught them the truth about perseverance by faith. It’s not that Jesus never ate regular food, but rather His point was one of perspective regarding supernatural abilities.This work He speaks of [in John 4:34], and in John 4:32, as actual food, as the supply of the truest needs, and the satisfaction of the truest desires of His nature. Analogies to this are within the limits of every man’s experience, and, faint as they are, help us to learn something of what this spiritual sustenance was. 

The command of duty, the cheering power of hope, the stimulus of success, are forces that supply to weak and weary nerves and muscles, the vigour of a new life. Under them the soldier can forget his wounds, the martyr smile at the lion or the flame, the worn-out traveller still plod onward at the thought of home. We cannot analyse this power, but it exists. They have food to eat that those without know not of.I imagine most of us long for the ability to finish the course the way Jesus did, or at least the way Paul did. “To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak; I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some” (1 Corinthians 9:22). It’s true, it can be really difficult at times to take the Gospel to those we can’t stomach. So what??? Was the Cross easy? Heck, the Bible explicitly says, ”For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:6). Consider the fact that when you were still unsaved, in your flesh, you were “hostile toward God” (Romans 8:7). That made you an enemy. That didn’t stop Jesus!At some point in your life, someone gave you the Gospel, even though you had enmity against God. It’s possible that to your evangelist, you were a part of their last “five percent”. Yet, here you are reading this blog. While they were dealing with you, thank God they were chewing on the Gospel, the sweetest sustenance of all. And because of that, they pushed through to give you the truth about Jesus Christ, about your awful natural condition, about your fleshly opposition to the One who wished to save you. Aren’t you grateful for whoever that evangelist was? Aren’t you glad they pushed through? I am.Most of us have a marathon to run after we’re saved. As is the case with the Boston Marathon’s famous “Heartbreak Hill”, we are often called to exert the most effort when we are weariest. If all we’ve eaten is a tuna melt, we’ll never make it. However, if we’ve gained our sustenance by grace through faith, being prepared by the Word of God, empowered by the Holy Spirit, all things are possible (Philippians 4:13), even evangelizing the person we dislike the most.Onward, Christian soldiers,
marching as to war,
With the cross of Jesus
going on before!

Christ, the royal Master,
leads against the foe;
Forward into battle,
see his banner go!Love in Christ,Ed Collins