The One who created everything is doing a good work in you
Do you ever grow weary in your walk with Jesus? Do you ever grow tired trusting in God?
We all have moments in our spiritual lives where it feels like one step forward, two steps back. You start your morning with reading Scripture about the power of your words, and you are yelling at your kids or talking behind the back of a co-worker by lunchtime. You used to experience God’s nearness in your spiritual practices but now they feel like empty rituals. You find yourself overwhelmed by anxiety about your finances, even though you have seen God always provide for you in the past. Our spiritual growth is not always up and to the right.
But be encouraged! In Philippians 1, Paul tells the church at Philippi: “he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
What an incredible promise. The Spirit of God that lives inside of you has begun a good work and will one day complete it.
I once heard a preacher point out that the words “began”, “good” and “completion” also appear in the Genesis creation poem in the same order. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth (1:1). God called everything he created good. Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array (2:1)
The God who spoke and created all good things in the earth is doing a good work in your heart and your life. The God who wouldn’t stop working until the heavens and the earth were complete won’t stop until a flourishing garden of goodness has bloomed in your heart.
Just as the Spirit hovered over the chaos of the waters in Genesis 1 and brought order out of that chaos and beauty out of the earth’s emptiness, the Spirit is reordering our lives and making them beautiful. No amount of chaos in your life can stop the Spirit from bringing order. No amount of emptiness in the canyon of your soul is too large for the Spirit to fill with goodness.
Don’t give up. Don’t grow discouraged. The simple work of prayer, reading Scripture, being in Christian community, serving those in need and loving others in partnership with the Spirit is doing a good work in your soul.
Galatians 6:9 – “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
We all have moments in our spiritual lives where it feels like one step forward, two steps back. You start your morning with reading Scripture about the power of your words, and you are yelling at your kids or talking behind the back of a co-worker by lunchtime. You used to experience God’s nearness in your spiritual practices but now they feel like empty rituals. You find yourself overwhelmed by anxiety about your finances, even though you have seen God always provide for you in the past. Our spiritual growth is not always up and to the right.
But be encouraged! In Philippians 1, Paul tells the church at Philippi: “he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
What an incredible promise. The Spirit of God that lives inside of you has begun a good work and will one day complete it.
I once heard a preacher point out that the words “began”, “good” and “completion” also appear in the Genesis creation poem in the same order. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth (1:1). God called everything he created good. Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array (2:1)
The God who spoke and created all good things in the earth is doing a good work in your heart and your life. The God who wouldn’t stop working until the heavens and the earth were complete won’t stop until a flourishing garden of goodness has bloomed in your heart.
Just as the Spirit hovered over the chaos of the waters in Genesis 1 and brought order out of that chaos and beauty out of the earth’s emptiness, the Spirit is reordering our lives and making them beautiful. No amount of chaos in your life can stop the Spirit from bringing order. No amount of emptiness in the canyon of your soul is too large for the Spirit to fill with goodness.
Don’t give up. Don’t grow discouraged. The simple work of prayer, reading Scripture, being in Christian community, serving those in need and loving others in partnership with the Spirit is doing a good work in your soul.
Galatians 6:9 – “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
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