God finishes what he starts

God is not like us. What God starts, he finishes (Philippians 1:6). He began a good work in the Philippians—and that work, no doubt, was the work of bringing them to faith in Jesus. You cannot begin that work. No one can. You may be able to start a backyard project, but you cannot muster up the ability and strength to believe in Jesus. Try as you might, you will not be able to, not until the Lord cuts through the darkness of your heart and breathes new life into your soul with his Spirit. Think of Lydia. She did not open her heart to the Lord, no. Acts 16:14 says, The Lord opened her heart. What a good work of God that was! That good work set in motion the beginning of a life devoted to Christ, growing in faith, growing in godliness, and in willingness to partner with Paul in the spread of the gospel. And Paul is convinced—I am sure of this he says at the beginning of Philippians 1:6—that this will not be one of those unfinished projects that we started. What blessed assurance! God does not start a good work in you only to let it peter out and die. He does not give up on us, like we give up on others and even ourselves at times. We can look at our lives and at those around us and think, How can I ever keep my faith to the end, in the midst of all this turmoil and trouble, with all these temptations looming large? How can I possibly persevere? With God at your side. That is how. That is the only way a saint perseveres. God, your God, is a persistent and preserving sort of God, one who never gives up, who never stops what he started.

That this good work has begun but is not yet complete means that right now we are somewhere in between. And if we are honest, we are still much closer to the starting line than to the finish line. And that can be discouraging. Sometimes we wonder, If I am a Christian, how can it be that I so deeply struggle with this or with that in my heart? Why am I still so imperfect, so sinful? Why do I do things that I do not want to do? Why do I so struggle to fully invest my energies in the church? Why do I find it so hard to build up the saints around me? Why do I care so little for those who do not yet know Christ? Here’s why: God is not done with you yet. That is why.