Sunday Read: October 25 - Six Days Until the End

October 25. Six days remain after today. Tomorrow begins the month's final week. Then five more days until October ends and November begins. You're in the home stretch now. The finish line is visible.

This proximity to the end creates predictable temptations. One temptation is giving up because the month didn't go as planned. You intended to pray daily - you didn't. You committed to Bible reading - you abandoned it. You planned to change patterns - you reverted to old habits. Twenty-five days of failure make the remaining six seem pointless. Why bother now?

The other temptation is coasting because the end is near. You made it through twenty-five days. Six more won't matter much. Just maintain minimum effort until November arrives with fresh starts and renewed intentions. October's over effectively; why push hard in the final days?

Both temptations are wrong. The final six days matter as much as the first six. How you finish reveals character as much as how you start. Actually, more - anyone can start strong when motivation runs high. Finishing strong when energy fades demonstrates genuine commitment.

Consider Caleb. He was forty when Moses sent twelve spies into Canaan. Ten returned saying the land couldn't be conquered. Only Caleb and Joshua trusted God could deliver victory. Because of the people's unbelief, God sentenced that generation to wander forty years in the wilderness. Caleb wandered with them - not because he lacked faith but because he was part of the community whose unbelief determined their fate.

Forty-five years later, at age eighty-five, when Israel finally entered Canaan, Caleb requested the most difficult territory to conquer. "So here I am today, eighty-five years old! I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I'm just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then. Now give me this hill country that the Lord promised me that day" (Joshua 14:10-12). He'd waited forty-five years for God's promise. He didn't waste his final opportunity by requesting easy assignments. He wanted the challenge.

Caleb finished strong. He could have requested gentle farmland suitable for an eighty-five-year-old. He chose mountainous territory occupied by giants - the very enemies that had terrified the other spies forty-five years earlier. In his final years, he pursued the hardest battles because he trusted God as much at eighty-five as at forty.

Six days remain in October. You could coast through them, conserving energy for November's fresh start. Or you could finish like Caleb - pursuing the hardest challenge in your remaining time, trusting God for strength you don't possess naturally.

What's your "hill country" for October's final six days? What's the difficult thing you've been avoiding all month? The conversation you need to have but dread? The apology you need to make but resist? The discipline you need to practice but have abandoned? The sin you need to confess but keep hiding? That's your hill country. Caleb's example says: don't avoid it because it's hard. Pursue it because finishing strong matters.

Paul wrote: "I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:14). He was pressing toward the goal, not coasting. At the end of his life he could say: "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith" (2 Timothy 4:7). He finished strong.

October is almost over. November's coming. But right now you're still in October. Six days remain. Don't waste them coasting or waste them despairing. Use them pressing toward what matters. Caleb pursued hill country at eighty-five. You can pursue difficult obedience for six more days.

The month didn't go as planned. Most months don't. But it's not over yet. Finish strong. Six days is enough time to do something meaningful if you use them purposefully. Press on. The finish line is visible. Run toward it.