GOD FINISHES WHAT HE STARTS

“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

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 Have you finished everything you’ve started?  I sure haven’t!  There must have been “countless” things I’ve started in my life time which I never finished. It’s good that I didn’t finish some of them, because I shouldn’t have ever started them in the first place. God doesn’t have such a problem. Everything He starts is good, and what He starts he finishes. 

 

Paul assures us 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.

 

In fact before He laid “the foundation of the world” He started a good work in the heart of everyone who would believe on His Son, and He will not give up on that work until we become like Jesus.  Everything He purposefully brings into our lives, or allows, is designed to bring that about.

 

Some of us grew up in Christian homes and were familiar with the gospel from little on, and so it seemed quite natural for us to commit our life to Christ at an early age. Even though I grew up in a Christian home and knew what I needed to do, I didn’t accept Christ until I hit a low point in my life. In my teens I was heading down the wrong road, and life seemed very meaningless. To top it off, at twenty one, I got a “Dear John” letter from my girlfriend which brought me to a low point which caused me to cry out to God for mercy. I am not suggesting we should continue down the wrong path until it hurts too much. What I am trying to convey is that “God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose for them.”

 

It’s God who starts the good work in us. We could never come to him on our own.  “God saved us by his grace when we believed. And we can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.” We know becoming a Christian doesn’t mean that life will always be rosy.  But it does mean, if we love him, he will use the hard and painful times to make us more like Jesus.  Yes, that could include things like a broken relationship – illness – accident - job lose – failure – death of a loved one, etc. We welcome pleasant and joyful times, but in reality it is in the hard times that we become more like Jesus if we trust and obey Him whole heartedly. We can count on Him to finish the good work he started in us!!