“Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 1:6 (NIV)
This scripture verse tells us that we are God’s good work, His project, His pride and joy, and yet we are still a work in progress, which He intends to finish one day. It’s good to know that He is still working on us, and that no one is finished yet.
Paul said the same thing to the Ephesians, that we are all God’s workmanship. (Ephesians 2:10)
It was a steady theme in his many letters. God is doing a special work in each of us.
We all get disturbed by trials but Peter wrote to the church, “Do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal before you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you.”
Yet it always surprises us, when we receive a dreaded phone call, an unexpected medical test result, or have to deal with a person who gets under our skin, or suffer a hurtful response from a trusted friend or relative. Each trial is part of His work to shape us into Christ-like people.
(1 Peter 4:12)
Fiery trials come in many ways, but scripture calls them “fiery” because they still surprise us as much as something bursting into flames would.
If we could all watch a movie of our entire life, from the beginning to this present day, some scenes would make us laugh and some would make us cry. Some would leave us with a sense of achievement and others with a sense of shame. Our faith waxes and wanes throughout the various storms we face in our lives, and yet somehow, we pick ourselves up and keep moving forward. That’s where God’s grace comes into play.
God’s grace is perfected through our weaknesses, by transforming them into strengths. That’s because He who began a good work in us, intends to bring it to completion. Christianity is a forward bound faith. We were meant to keep looking ahead, to learn what God is trying to teach and accomplish in our lives. God never looks backward, and neither should we.
Jesus spoke a lot about forgiveness. We are to receive His forgiveness, forgive others, and forgive ourselves. He brought redemption to the most unlikely people. He broke some cultural rules, but He healed many broken people, and He is still healing broken hearts today. Jesus had a special knack for frustrating the traditionalists, but a gift for giving hope to the hopeless. His message was and still is, that redemption is a costly, but free gift, that He paid for all people.
The anecdote to stress is to keep hoping in God through it all. Jesus told us His Father knows the number of hairs on our head, every moment of every day. Since we are that valuable to God, how can we not trust Him to finish the plan He once started in us?
Thank you to all who offered their prayers for Jon. He is still in the hospital but doing much better. May God give us grace to continue doing a good work in him and all of us and our loved ones.
Lord, we trust and acknowledge that you are doing a good work in us, and we pray for your grace to strengthen us by transforming all weakness into strength. Amen
