Completion

Philippians 1:8 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.

I have found that so many projects that I start, or I dream about starting, never get completed. My life is full of loose ends. I love to start projects and do all the really big pieces of the project, but then I lose interest as the project winds down. All the small little things that make the project complete just don’t seem to matter once the big things are done.

Most people don’t notice the loose ends, but I do. They catch my eye every time I walk by them. I think to myself, “I have to get that finished!” But then it slips out of my conscious mind before too long, at least until I pass it again on day in the future. This is the mind of someone with ADHD!

In our text today, Paul is writing the Philippian believers about his journey of faith. Part of that journey included his work among them. He is filled with joy as he thinks about them and their journey of faith. It fills Paul to overflowing. They have responded to the Gospel, jumping full in.

But notice something very subtle in the text. Paul confidence isn’t in the Philippian believers. Paul writes that he is confident in the one working in their lives. God, who is working, and they are responding to that working. They are working with God, not against Him.

That is good news. God is at work in us. He is bringing about the circumstances that will help shape our faith. Or to put it better, He is using every circumstance to grow us up in our faith. He is the One who stated the growth in us, just as He did in the Philippian delivers. And just as with them, He will keep on going until it is complete.

Our part of the equation of God’s work in the world is to cooperate with His working. We listen to His direction and we move in that direction. It is His power and will; we choose to participate in what He is doing. He has the blueprint for His Kingdom here on Earth. So we trust His direction.

One of the biggest things that we miss as He works out His will is the timing. We always want things faster than He seems to. We see a short-term loss and He sees the long gain. He is always at work.

Even when humans “mess up” His plan, that doesn’t take Him by surprise. He saw it and has already make course corrections so that His will never fails. He will carry it on to completion. We can be confident of this. He will complete the project, every detail.