\u201cI am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.\u201d Philippians 1:6 CSB
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This verse makes my heart skip a beat. \u00a0How the Lord loves us, so much so, He won\u2019t let us stay as we are, AND He won\u2019t stop. \u00a0That is what this verse says to me. No matter how many times I mess up, no matter how many times I fall off the narrow path, He is there. \u00a0He doesn\u2019t give up on me. He knows where we are headed and He is going to get us there. No matter how bad I think I am, was or will be, it does not deter Him one bit. \u00a0He still has a plan for me and He is working it out.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This past week I\u2019ve had several different conversations with friends about the past, specifically sins of the past. I\u2019ve been thinking about the mistakes I made in my life, how they changed me, how I\u2019ve grown from them. My life is so different from where I was 30 years ago, sometimes I don\u2019t even know who I am. It seems to have changed more in the last 7 years than any other time. I find the person who brings my past up the most to me is me. I\u2019m the one who continues to condemn myself for those mistakes. God doesn\u2019t. Some people do, but most don\u2019t. It\u2019s me that I have to forgive most sometimes.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It works the same way for others. \u00a0When people start following Jesus, they are acknowledging that they are sinners. \u00a0That they need Him to make them whole. And when that happens there will be change. \u00a0It won\u2019t happen overnight, it will be day by day, but there will be change. They won\u2019t be the same person they once were. \u00a0God will be working on them, just like He says He will. They will struggle with forgiving themselves for their pasts, just like we struggle with ours. \u00a0 If we\u2019ll look close enough, we\u2019ll see it\u2019s true.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The key to both of these perspectives is that God started a good work in me. He started a good work in you. He has started a good work in us, and He\u2019s not stopping. God is the one doing the work, not us. It is by getting to know Him better that you will change. As you take small steps of faith and unveil the richness of God\u2019s glory, you will change. Each day you make time for Him, interact with Him, trust Him, you will change. Even in the times when it doesn\u2019t feel like God is doing anything, those are the times He\u2019s probably doing the most. And He doesn\u2019t need your help doing it. God has started a good work, and He will see it through to completion.
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cI am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.\u201d Philippians 1:6 CSB This verse makes my heart skip a beat. \u00a0How the Lord loves us, so much so, He won\u2019t let us stay as we are, AND He… Continue reading GOD PROMISES TO FINISH WHAT HE STARTED<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","without-featured-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=802"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":803,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802\/revisions\/803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}