He begins the work in us and he'll finish it.

Phillipians {1:6} Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform [it] until the day of Jesus Christ


It's not once begun and quickly finished. People like the idea of a finished work and it's not that I don't like the idea it's just that the idea is coated thickly in finishing as quickly as possible. The quicker things are done the better especially if they're done properly. Having unfinished projects that aren't worked on is never fun. Who likes to have a bunch of partially finished works in progress- no matter what it is? Yet there are some things that require time to complete. Some things are works in progress that take years to complete. Some things cannot be rushed. A good wine takes time- you've heard the saying. Some cheeses well aged are perfection. Getting a degree in education helps you get a good job and some degrees take a long time to obtain and you can't rush things. Taking our time to get things right the first time is very important and as much as we talk about rushing through things and finishing them quickly that isn't always the best thing.


It's the same with our Christian lives.


We begin them and think that suddenly we are completely what Christ wants us to be. We've been born again. We might even feel that wonderful feeling of having a new life, a new beginning, a new lease on an old life that promises better things. We might feel freed from the weight of past sins because they are all forgiven. We might have an intense emotional upheaval that makes us feel amazing. We feel these things and believe that we should always feel these things and that life will go on to be this amazing thing because we've accepted Jesus and want to live in Jesus.


The Christian life is like any other life in the respect even if you're not a Christian you have to live and get by to the best of your ability. The Christian life differs because you recognize that you aren't going to go through this life alone, on your own, you want to go through this life with Christ. You recognize that only through Christ can a life that makes little sense begin to make sense. There is a complete senselessness to life if you live it without Christ. You live it for no reason. You live it biding your time, accepting all the bad things for no reason at all.


Christ brings meaning to life by offering a new life in Him. Is that life instantaneous? In some ways it is. The promise is instant. The completion of that promise isn't realized until Christ comes again. The stuff inbetween is what we call our life. The moment the promise is made and accepted, and the moment Christ returns can be a full lifetime of say, 70, 80 years of inbetween for some. For others it's only a day long, because the next day they die and sleep until Christ returns but their life inbetween is over. The next thing those who sleep in Christ will know is Christ returning- the promise fulfilled, the work that was begun complete.


You see there is a work begun in us when we accept Christ. He begins the work in us and he'll finish it.


Phillipians {1:6} Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform [it] until the day of Jesus Christ


We have to be confident. We have to trust that as we go through life He is working in us. We have to let Him work in us. We have to understand we are embarking on a work that will take a lifetime without any completion until Christ returns. The completed work is only done when Christ arrives until then we are works in progress.


During the walk we'll get discouraged. We'll feel like the promise is far, far away. We might feel like the promise has been broken. We have to have confidence in Jesus that He will continue to make us into the creatures He wants us to be for Him when He returns. We can't make ourselves... we can't do the work ourselves. Christ who is the one who begins the work will finish the work upon His return, until then He is performing it in us. He will perform it, HE WILL PERFORM. He takes the action and it is our job to let Him perform it in us, believing that He will continue to perform it until He returns. We can't try to take over and perform it ourselves, we can't. We might try and that's where we run into trouble. We try to do Jesus' job in ourselves.


When people are given a job to do and they go and do another's job is it acceptable? Generally it's not. If someone is doing another's job the chances are they're not doing their own job. This is one thing that isn't better when it's taken over by another because NO ONE can do this job, only Jesus can and all those who think they can do His job are deluded and it's a deadly delusion they suffer under. If they are attempting to do Jesus' job then Jesus' can't perform that work, He's being interfered with. It's our job to LET Him work in us. That's our only job and yet we often find it hard to do that one simple thing- let go and let Him.


We have to take our self out of us to let Jesus in us, right? Wrong.


We are filled to the brim with self. And while it's logical to assume that we can be no other way, we know for a fact that selfishness isn't a good trait. Living among people who only think of themselves and no others isn't a good thing. We applaud the person who give up their own selfish wants so they can make another happy and yet we don't foster that in ourselves. We want to be the one catered to. Selfishness isn't a good trait at all. Wanting things our way and only our way is not good. Self is not good. So how do we empty ourselves of this selfishness?


We rely on Christ to perform that work in us. To empty us as we LET Him. We have to let HIM work in us. Because if we try to take out the selfishness even then we are claiming that work which isn't in us to perform. Does this mean we cling to all our selfish acts and do so in defiance of Christ? Absolutely not. We cling to nothing but offer it all to Christ. We recognize all that which makes us what we are and we give it to Christ asking Him to perform in us knowing that He will perform in His way, not our way. We might want Him to get rid of one thing but He might want to work on another area first. We can't presume to know how Christ is to perform the work in us, we have to trust that He will. We can lay claim to nothing accept surrendering ourselves to Christ, nothing. It's a constant surrender, and a constant knowing that His way is perfect ours is not and if we let Him He will perform His perfect way in us until He comes again.


May God through the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ begin, continue, and forever work in us performing His good work in each of us until He returns. By His righteousness, by His grace, by His love now and forever.


Amen.