God Always Finishes What He Starts
“And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue His work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.” Philippians 1:6 (NLT)
God began a good work within you the moment you received the Lord Jesus! His life became yours by faith! In Colossians, Paul challenges Christ followers, “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in Him,” Colossians 2:6 (NIV2011) This is a key to a living, dynamic faith! How did you receive Christ? By faith. It wasn’t a matter of your good works or human effort, but faith in the marvelous grace of God offered to you in Christ! And it will take the same faith to continue to live your life in Him that it took to begin! The problem is that often we begin by faith, receiving that which we could never achieve on our own, and then somehow begin to act as if we must sustain our faith through strenuous effort. Soon we become utterly exhausted and lose the joy of our salvation.
If that describes your Christian experience, I’ve got good news. Just as it was God who began the good work in you, only He can complete it! No amount of striving on our part will enable us to be more acceptable to God. The very God who began a good work in you will continue that work throughout your lifetime until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns!
There are three amazing parts to God’s work in our lives. He works for us, His work in us, and His work through us!
His work for us began when Jesus died on the cross for our sins in our place! His work in us began when we first received Christ by faith! And He works through us by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit enabling us to grow more like Jesus every day! Our part is to let Him do the work! That’s our responsibility. We simply respond to His ability to continue the good work He began, trusting that He will complete it one day when Christ comes again! Doesn’t that take the pressure off? If you’ve ever felt as though you weren’t making progress in your spiritual life, God isn’t finished yet! When God starts a project, He always completes it! Or, as the bumper sticker I saw once that read: PLEASE BE PATIENT WITH ME, GOD IS NOT THROUGH WITH ME YET.
Be encouraged, God won’t give up on you! He promises to finish what He started! The same faith that got you started will get you through. Trust Him to do the deeper work in you that He may accomplish a greater work through you!