He Will Finish What He Started (Philippians 1:6)

"He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."

Philippians 1:6 (NIV)

Paul was in prison when he wrote Philippians. By all human accounts, his ministry was in a hard season. His freedom was gone. His future was uncertain. And yet the letter he wrote from a Roman jail is the most joyful book in the New Testament.

In chapter one, verse six, Paul tells the church at Philippi why he is so confident, even from a cell.

Notice who is doing the verbs. He began. He will carry on. He will complete.

Paul is not telling the Philippians that they will finish strong because they are talented. He is telling them that they will finish strong because the One who started the work has no record of leaving things half-done.

That is an important truth for anyone in the middle of a long week.

Most of us have already started doubting whether the spiritual life we have been trying to build is going to hold. We see our failures more clearly than our progress. We feel like the same person we were five years ago. We wonder if anything is actually changing.

Paul looks at us from a Roman prison and says, with no irony: be confident.

Not because of you. Because of Him.

The God who saved you is not done with you. The God who called you is not surprised by you. The God who began the good work has every intention of finishing it.

We are summer turning to fall. We are nine months into the year. We are years into the journey of faith. Some of us are decades in. And the question we keep asking is, will I make it?

Paul's answer is simple. He will make it for you. Not around you. Through you.

Maybe this week, the doubt has been loud. Maybe you have been measuring your spiritual growth and coming up short.

Be confident.

He started this.

He will finish this.

And the day of Christ Jesus is closer than yesterday.

A Prayer for This Week

Father, thank You that the work You started in us is not depending on us to finish. Thank You that You are the author and the finisher. Forgive us for measuring our progress by our feelings. Help us walk into this week with the confidence Paul had, not in ourselves, but in You. You began the good work. You will complete it. In Jesus' name, amen.