Isaiah 46:8-11 – “Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors, remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’ calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it.”

THEME OF THE DAY: WHAT GOD STARTS, GOD FINISHES. Are we people who have unfinished projects laying around our homes? Those things we were so excited about that started well, progress was made but then we got sidetracked and the project that had great promise waits to be finished? How about a stack of started but not finished books? I don’t think it is an understatement that at some point in life, all of us start something with good intentions, but just never finish it. Aren’t we glad that doesn’t apply to our God? And particularly when it comes to the work of our salvation. With that in mind, let’s seek some encouragement from the great truth that what God starts, God finishes.

The Christian life is not for the faint of heart. It is demanding, sacrificial, will cost us everything we are and is traveled on a road of much toil, tears, and sorrows. It is a disservice and actually a false message to tell the world “Come to Jesus and all will be well.” That simply is not the message of the Bible. And do not be lulled into a false understanding that Christianity is simply believe on Jesus, make a decision for Jesus, and then live life with one foot in heaven and one in the earth. Always remember that Christianity is an encounter with Jesus Christ radically changing us from what we were to be owned by Him to live the rest of our lives in radical obedience to Him. And this radical obedience is hard, demanding a daily death to self and self-interests. The German theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was martyred by Adolf Hitler, once said, “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” As this reality settles into the mind and heart of the Christian, we grow weary. We go through much pain. We have nights of anguish over sin and engaging spiritual foes to our souls. We even encounter times of simply feeling like we cannot go on as we are buffeted by the devil, the flesh, and the world. There will be languishing cries in prayer for God to intervene in our battles. These deep petitions from our soul will include words like, “Lord, I am overwhelmed. I cannot go on. Help me or I will fall.” If these experiences sound strange in describing the Christian life, let these words of the Apostle Paul remind us of the reality that the Christian life is an intense conflict that often may lead to despair – “For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again” (2 Corinthians 1:8-10). Yes, this is the correct view of the Christian life, but not the complete view.

The other side of the Christian life is that of joy and heart contentment. If all we had is the “pain” side and not the “joy” side, who would hold out? And where does this joy and ability to hold out originate and that keeps us keeping on following Jesus with radical obedience? It comes from the amazing grace of God; the preserving grace of God; the finishing grace of God; and never ending supply of this grace of God. Friends, when life gets hard and trials intense, they are not painful things coming into our lives apart from God’s grace. They are purposeful things coming into our lives from God’s grace. Our gracious Lord is making us like Himself. In order for that to happen, there is a lot of work needing to be done to get our ugly sinful selves out of the way. That requires purging pain to remove selfishness, but rest in the truth that God knows what He is doing. He knew what was involved in the process before the process began. He knew it would have to be all of grace and depended entirely upon Him from start to finish. So as it gets hard and it will, rest in the astounding truth that what God starts, God finishes and that so profoundly true in the working out of our salvation.

PRAYER: “Father, help me to see that all things in my life truly do work for good, even when I don’t see it so.”

QUOTE: “We are a people saved by grace, kept by grace, and will be completed in the image of Christ by grace.”