When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
When you really slow down and think about the familiar two-word phrase, "follow through", it sounds a little odd. We can easily understand the concept of following someone or following directions, but following through? Who is Through?
If Through were a person, he or she would be the one at the end of everything. You might ask, "Where is Through?" The answer would always be, "Through is at the end." Or, you might ask, "What kind of person is Through?" The answer would be, "Through is a finished." Suppose you found Through and asked him, "What do you focus on?" He would say, "I focus on completion." The end. Finishing. Completion.
If Through were a tennis player he might be Novak Djokovic. Djokovic is now the number one player in the world. If you ask him what are the keys to success for him, he would tell you that he finishes every shot. That's how he is able to produce so much power, spin, and control simultaneously.
If Through were a business person he might be my friend Jim Roach. Jim is the president of sales and service for Honda in the North America. His business unit is the most profitable in all Honda. It also receives the highest ratings for customer satisfaction. When you ask Jim what his key to success is he always says the same thing, "Follow through. Keep the commitments you make."
If Through were a man sent by God to save us, He would be Jesus Christ. There is no greater example of following through than Jesus Christ. He followed though all the way to obedient and sacrificial death on a cross for our sakes.
We honor God every time we follow through on our commitments to ourselves, to others, and to God Himself. We greatly increase our success in tennis when we follow through on every shot.
Prayer
Dear Jesus, thank You for following through on your commitment to save me. Please give me the strength to follow through on my commitments and the discipline to follow through on each and every tennis shot.
Drill(s)
Feed balls to players at the baseline. Have them try to hit ten balls with absolutely no follow through. Next have them try to hit ten balls with a half follow through. Next have them hit ten balls with as long a follow through as possible. The results will speak for themselves.
