He will finish it
The work God completes
After so much about effort and growth and putting on and pressing forward, Paul anchors it all in a promise that takes the weight off our shoulders: he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. The work of forming Christ in us is, at the deepest level, God's work — and a work God begins, God finishes. He does not abandon his projects half-built.
This is profound comfort for the long, often discouraging road of formation. We grow weary of our slow progress, dismayed by how far we still are from Christ's likeness, tempted to think we will never get there or that God may give up on us as we keep stumbling. Paul's confidence answers all of it: the One who started this in you is committed to finishing it. Your formation does not finally depend on your strength to complete it, but on his faithfulness.
This does not make our effort pointless — Paul calls for plenty of it — but it sets all our effort inside God's guarantee. We work, but we do not carry the ultimate responsibility for the outcome; God does, and he is faithful, and he will do it. Faithful is he who calls you, Paul says elsewhere, who also will do it. So press on with effort, but rest in the assurance: the good work God began in you, he himself will complete.
“He who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.”
— Paul, to the Philippians — Philippians 1:6 (WEB)
Rest in the assurance that the God who began his good work in you will faithfully complete it — setting all your effort inside his guarantee.
“Faithful is he who calls you, who will also do it.”
The long road breeds a particular fear — that we will never arrive, or that God may tire of our stumbling and abandon the project half-finished. The interior work is to drop anchor in the promise that the One who began the good work will himself complete it, so our effort, still real and required, rests inside his guarantee rather than carrying it. The weight of finishing was never ours; it belongs to the faithfulness of the God who started it.
This week, when discouraged by your slow progress, preach Philippians to yourself: he who began a good work in me will complete it. Keep up your effort, but rest the outcome on God's faithfulness rather than carrying the weight of finishing yourself.
Discouragement seizes on your slow progress to argue that you will never make it or that God may give up, and breeds the quiet despair that makes you quit. But a soul resting in his faithfulness to finish keeps pressing on, undeterred by the very slowness that despair was counting on to stop it.
The long road of formation is often discouraging. We grow weary of our slow progress, dismayed at how far we remain from Christ's likeness, and tempted to fear that we will never get there or that God may finally give up on us. After all his calls to effort, Paul anchors everything in a promise that lifts the ultimate weight off our shoulders: he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion.
The forming of Christ in us is, at its deepest level, God's work, and a work God begins, God finishes — he does not abandon his projects half-built. This does not make our effort pointless; it sets our effort inside his guarantee. We work, but we do not carry the final responsibility for the outcome; he does, and he is faithful. So when you are discouraged by your slow progress, rest in this: your formation depends ultimately not on your strength to finish, but on the faithfulness of the God who began it and will surely complete it.
- Am I discouraged by my slow progress toward Christ's likeness?
- Do I fear God may give up on me as I keep stumbling?
- Can I rest my formation on his faithfulness to complete it, not my strength?
Lord, the long road wearies me, and I fear I will never arrive or that you may give up on me. But you who began a good work in me will complete it. Let me press on with effort while resting the outcome on your faithfulness, for you will surely finish what you started. Amen.