“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.
Under house arrest in Rome, chained to his Roman guard, Paul sounds a note of absolute confidence that God will complete the work of salvation in the life of the Philippian believers. The Greek word for confidence suggests that a conclusion has been reached on reasonable ground. The perfect tense indicates that Paul arrived at this settled persuasion and that he remained confident of God’s desire, intention and ability to continue the transformation in the lives of the believers. Paul has no doubts about their salvation or their security.
Under house arrest in Rome, chained to his Roman guard, Paul sounds a note of absolute confidence that God will complete the work of salvation in the life of the Philippian believers. The Greek word for confidence suggests that a conclusion has been reached on reasonable ground. The perfect tense indicates that Paul arrived at this settled persuasion and that he remained confident of God’s desire, intention and ability to continue the transformation in the lives of the believers. Paul has no doubts about their salvation or their security.
Some commentators believe the “good work” is the Philippians’ financial participation in the work. Others believe it refers to salvation and I agree. Note that the work is not “among you” but “in you”. Once the good work has commenced do the persons being saved remain merely passive instruments? No! However, Paul says God will always finish what He started. It will require God to demonstrate an enormous amount of patience, compassion, tolerance and frequent bouts of forgiveness from God and confession and repentance from those who are being saved. The wonderful news is that God will finish it.
The poster said “Be patient with me. God is not finished.” Wonderful!!! The finished product is always the best. However, as humans we have serious problems. We don’t finish, we don’t finish well but God will not leave a job unfinished.
The moment God placed a dream in your heart, the moment that promise took root, the moment the spirit nudges us and opens our eyes to God’s presence and love something has started in our lives and God has also set a completion date. God is called the Author and the Finisher of our faith. God wouldn’t have given you the vision and the promise wouldn’t have come alive if God didn’t already have a plan to bring it to pass. It doesn’t matter how long its been or how impossible it looks. Your mind may tell you that it’s too late. You’ve missed the mark too often. It’s never going to happen. No, God is saying, “It’s not over until I say it’s over. I have the final say. I have already set the completion date. So, hold on. It will just be a matter of time before it comes to pass!”
THOUGHT: God does not begin anything God cannot complete.
PRAYER FOCUS: For those who believe God has given up on them.
No comments:
Post a Comment