This summer I dusted off my weight system in the garage and committed to lift weights. I even paid a guy 80 bucks to come fix the pulley system (It had been collecting dust for three years). It works great... at least it did the one time I used it in July after getting it fixed! I keep passing it on the way out thinking, “I need to do that.”
We start things, but we often don’t follow through. But thankfully God is not like us.
Paul writes in Phil. 1:6, (NLT): “And 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.”
Paul is certain God won’t give up on us. “Certain” is a term that means he’s got great confidence. It is more than just hope, it is anchored in a belief that salvation is God’s work. The term “begin” is literally “to begin in” and is used twice in the New Testament, each time to refer to God’s salvation. He began it in you and he’s going to see it through. Paul says he will see it through until it is “finally finished” which means “fully completed”. God is going to complete the work he started in your life when you reached out to him in faith. Only God can truly complete the work that he started.
God is not like you and me. We conduct experiments, we give things a try, but God carries out a plan. God never does anything halfway or incomplete. Your life is no different if it is in his hands.
When you doubt and struggle, when you falter, when you fail and fall into sin, when you lose your temper and say things you deeply regret, when you give up on yourself, when you do the same sin for the 337th time, when you quit rejoicing in God, when you fail to love your family, when your friends give up on you, when your family gives up on you, when you fail to see how your life will make a difference, when you feel worse now than when you first came to faith, when you’ve quit... God won’t quit on you.
God is so committed to finishing the work that he started in us, Paul can’t even think of one thing in the entire world that could separate us from the love of God and his commitment to us. Let this bring us joy in our struggles today! God wont quit!
