God would not bring you through a Red Sea and turn around and allow you to perish in a fish pond.
-Dent
I’ve been wondering, what are you thoughts on God’s plans for your life? Do you feel like you’re experiencing the blessing that most Christians believe comes from a relationship with Christ? Or maybe your faith has waned because you feel abandoned or left behind when it comes to where you think you “should be” (platform) in the Kingdom. Maybe you’ve experienced the beginning of God doing something really amazing in your life but because of certain circumstances, whether dealt by your own decisions or not, that good thing never fully came to fruition. Maybe you’ve been left to wonder, “there’s gotta be more to it than this…”
This thought has actually come to mind because of my daughter Zoey. She loves to color and is actually becoming quite good at it. She’s been drawing little dresses, coloring pictures for her teacher; we even bought her one of those adult coloring books that are super detailed. The thing is, she’ll start these pictures but rarely finish before she moves onto the next one.
Maybe I’m reaching here, but it got me thinking about the trust that I’ve placed in the promises that God has spoken over my life. Just follow my not-so-sophisticated thought process and maybe you’ll see where I’m coming from.
“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.” (Philippians 1:6)
Functional faith says that even if we don’t see it, we need to place our trust before our understanding in situations where we can’t see finality. I feel a lot of people bail on their beliefs because they don’t stick around long enough for God to prove Himself to be who He says He is. It’s like they start to color the picture but fail to take the time to see the task to the end, therefore missing the true beauty of what they’ve been doing. Does that make sense to you? Our relationship with God and therefore our growth in God can bemeasured in time. So as we grow and mature with Him, the beauty of what we receive from Him becomes more and more evident as our journey progresses.
We can't quit on Him just because bad things happen. I’m not about to chalk up my past experiences of His grace and goodness to some “better time” in life just because things don’t look or feel like they once did. And on the flips side, God refuses to give up on us because of the flaws and faults that we continually struggle with in our lives. His loves surpasses our mistakes because He chooses to see us as He sees His own Son. It’s incredible!
I choose to believe that if He started something in me, than He is absolutely going to finish it. The question is, am I in a place where I’m being faithful with what He’s entrusted to me to see it come to completion. The enemy wants nothing more than for you to believe the lie that too much time has past or that you’re too far gone to be used; that what you once experienced with God was just for that past season in your life. God has not forgot about you and the promises He’s spoken over your life.
Remember, we believe in the Good News! And the good news is that God’s not finished yet. We can put our hope in what is to come. In the case for authenticity, we also need to be realistic and remember that this also maybe strike as bad news, that He’s not finished yet. That meaning He’s not about to let us stay connected to that which weighs us down and keeps us from progressing with Him.
There’s more wrestling.
There’s more excavating.
There’s more time needed to sort out those flaws and faults that have left you feeling inadequate and unworthy in His eyes.
I’m not sure if this was even a cohesive thought.
I’m still thinking it through, I guess.
Hebrews 13:8 reminds me that He’s not going to change. He’s the consistent one, not me. What He started in you, maybe even so long ago, He’s good for it!
Start to finish.
