God is always at work in us. He won't stop until he's finished.
Years ago, my spouse and I purchased an older home. We knew that we had a lot of work ahead of us, but we weren’t anticipating the scale of the work. Moving in, we were prepared to tackle the green shag carpets, old wallpaper, and heating system. I had a lot of plans for the house and could envision the final product.
To make a long story short, we ended up having to gut the basement, jack up one side of the house and change a supporting beam, dig up around the house to waterproof and improve the drainage, repair siding, and replace windows – all before doing any of the cosmetic fixes we had dreamed of. The frustrating part was that after working for 2 years on our house, and investing a lot of time and money, it didn’t appear that we had done much. The house looked much the same as when we had moved in.
Through the many hours spent tearing down and building up, I had a chance to reflect on my own life, which is in many ways similar to this construction project. There is almost always a self improvement project on the go. And perhaps you can relate when months, sometimes years later, you find there has been frustratingly little change, even though you’ve prayed, acted, and even sought help for it. In my frustration and doubt, I have asked the following questions: Aren’t we supposed to be able to do all things through Christ (Phil. 4:13)? Has Christ not already done the work (Col. 2:11-12)? Has He not created a clean heart in me (Psalm 51:10, 2 Cor. 5:17)? Why can’t I change this area of my life?
As I turned this over in my mind, it occurred to me that some of the changes I desire may depend on other improvements that need to happen first ... just like with our house. We wanted to immediately work on the cosmetic aspects, but we had to fix more critical issues first. And so I’m left to wonder if the order of my list for self improvement might be a whole lot different from God’s list. For example, while I may place losing weight high up on my list, God may actually be building compassion and humility in me. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t work on areas of our lives as we are convicted; rather, I’m learning that God’s timing and order may be different from our own.
God's priority list may be different from our own.
Like the earlier verses stated, we do need to stand firm in our belief that Christ has equipped us to change. But, we need to recognize that the process may look different from what we expect and God may prioritize different things. As we persevere in becoming Christ like, we can rest in the truth that
“He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6).
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