The Finished Product

  

Phil 1:3-6

 

I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, 4 always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, 5 for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;

NKJV

 

I just love the way the Apostle Paul writes.  Every remembrance; always in every prayer; for you all- I love the all-encompassing nature of his prayers.  It inspires me to a loftier prayer life.  But verse six is the verse that always inspires me.  Because, to be honest, I  need to be  reminded to remain confident about God's work in my life.

 

I am a very analytical person.  My psychology classes would say that I am a "self-actualizing" person.  I know every weakness, tendency and pet peeve of mine.  Because of that, I can struggle with feeling a perpetual sense of being a mess.  A hopeless tangle of complex personality traits that fall short of God's  best- that is how I see myself a lot of the time.  But then I am reminded, especially by these verses, that I am no great challenge to God.  He fixes messes like me all of the time.

 

This verse exhorts me that I can even be confident that God will complete the good work He has begun in me.  I have a bag full of crochet projects began, but left unfinished.  I have several journals purchased and written in faithfully for just a few days, then left undone.  We humans are more starters than finishers.  Not so with God.  If He starts it, you can take it to the bank, He will finish  it.  Our part is to confidently believe.  And to cooperate with the program.

 

 Dear Lord, here I am.  Mess and all.   Work in me.  Change me.  Create a finished project that brings you glory.   In Jesus' Name.  Amen.