Finishing Well

What does it take to finish well? i have asked myself that at the end of every single year so far in college and have yet to answer it effectively. Coming soon is my fourth and final attempt to answer the inevitable question. here are some thoughts God's given me in my quiet times:

- Joshua finished well. He left nothing undone God commanded Moses before him to do. Then only after this did Joshua and the nations of Israel experience rest from war.
I have seven days of class left. Today i skipped a class to sleep through it. Yesterday I was not diligent with a paper. This is not finishing well. Diligence and discipline are both necessary.

- Caleb finished well. He banked on God's promise made to him back in the day and approached Joshua bearing with confidence this promise. Joshua told Caleb the hill country was his if he would only attack the Anakites with their large and fortified cities. Caleb, being a man who wholeheartedly served God responded "...the Lord helping me, I will drive them out just as he said."
Finishing well requires obedience. Obedience requires courage. Courage requires action. I can say I want to finish well as many times as I want, but until exercise the courage needed to, say, share the bridge with my classmate, I will not finish well.

- The Tribe of Manasseh did not finish well. They wanted a larger inheritance, so, like Caleb Joshua told them to move against the Canaanites in the hill country, and though they have iron chariots, you will drive them out. Manasseh's response: we're too afraid. Consequences of action: two generations later the Canaanites that Manasseh refused to eliminate mustered an army and enslaved Israel for 18 years.
Finishing well requires us to think about more than ourselves. Our actions have consequences. The consequences of me being frightened to share the bridge with my classmate effects more than me and him. It effects generations of laborers which could be the result of a nurtured seed. It not only effects the eternality of his soul, but potentially the souls of everyone he choses to impact both negatively and positively for the rest of his life. And the rest of his future children's lives. And his children's children's lives...

I want to be someone who, like Caleb, responds to God with immediate, wholehearted obedience at the slightest inclination of His calling.