Today is part of the process. Today is neither the beginning nor the end, simply another day whereupon your great God works on you a little more. Before there was a physical you, there was an intent for you, the divine idea of you in the infinite heart of God. Then He sovereignly chose when to manifest His glorious idea and brought you into being. You and I are intentional. We were brought into this world on purpose by a God who never works apart from gloriously good intentionality. He worked diligently in every single facet of your life, both in the obvious events and those things which were hidden from view, to bring you to a place of recognizing your need for redemption. His purpose was to save you and then, as we would view things, His purpose turned to utilizing you for His own glory. This process has been fixed on your behalf to bring the deepest satisfaction and the most abundant joy that you could ever experience. His plan for you trumps anything that you or another might have come up with for your life. Today is not your beginning, nor is it your end. Today is one more day in the perfect plan of God as He moves you closer to your inevitable perfection. The Apostle Paul said it much more succinctly as the Holy Spirit inspired him to pen the following:
“And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” – Philippians 1:6 {ESV}
You did not begin it. God did. You cannot keep it sustained. God does. You could never complete it because it is no small task to make a sinner a saint and then to make that saint fit for eternity. Theunlikelihood of you or I ever entering into perfection is staggering and, absent of God’s grace, the task is impossible. With all that we know to be lacking in ourselves there is an even greater realm of fallenness that only omniscient eyes can see. We are actually worse off than we ever thought when it comes to our own holiness and the complete transformaiton required on our behalf can only be accomplished by the overseer Himself. Yet God was not thwarted – the Potter has never been intimidated by the lump of clay. He is completing you and will not relent until He finishes His masterpiece in the exact manner He saw it before He ever began. He cannot leave off from you until you are precisely as He determined you would be. His name is forever attached to you and His glory is tethered to you for eternity – He deemed it so. Therefore He cannot leave off, He cannot quit early, He cannot forget, He cannot grow weary of you, He cannot end in frustration, He cannot toss you aside…He loves what He is doing in you and for you and through you. Yes, God will complete you.
But not until the day of Jesus Christ. Believe this: want it as you may, strive toward it it as you do, hunger for it as you will… you will not be completed until the return of God’s Son. So you must choose between two things: despair or rest. I have sadly mastered the first at times and must work diligently at the second. We are to rest in the lavish grace of God afforded to us in Jesus Christ, the very One who will bring our completion to pass when our eyes behold Him (1 John 3:2). My trust is that this glorious event is to occur very soon. Until then, may you and I remember that today is not the beginning of that process (we are not who we once were), nor is it the end of that process (there is needful work in us that remains to be done). Today is one more day in the midst of God’s relentless work upon us and for us.
I will be resting in that.