He Started It
When the Apostle Paul was locked in a Roman prison for telling people about Jesus, he sent a letter of hope to his friends back in Philippi. A portion of it said:
“And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.”
Philippians 1:6 NLT
Though Paul was writing to specific people in the first-century Church, his words are just as true for the global Church today.
Think about it: Who started this thing we call life? Who made this world and everything in it? Who fine-tuned the universe to actually make sense? Who put you here—at this specific time in history? Who handcrafted your body, your mind, your strengths, and your unique-to-you personality? Who began this good work?
Before you were ever born, God already had you in mind. Before you could even walk or talk or have dreams for yourself, God already had a plan. Before you knew to look to Him or to follow Him or to worship Him, God was already at work—in you, around you, and through you.
Sometimes it feels like we’re just wasting time and taking up space, without real purpose. But—it turns out—God is intentional and He makes no mistakes. To top it off…
God always finishes what He starts.
The story isn’t over. When Christ returns once and for all, the work of God through His people will finally be complete.
Until then, let’s commit to God’s good work inside of us.
Let’s magnify Him in everything we do.
Let’s believe that He’ll finish what He has begun.
Psalm 55
English Standard Version
Cast Your Burden on the Lord
To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Maskil[a] of David.
55 Give ear to my prayer, O God,
and hide not yourself from my plea for mercy!
2 Attend to me, and answer me;
I am restless in my complaint and I moan,
3 because of the noise of the enemy,
because of the oppression of the wicked.
For they drop trouble upon me,
and in anger they bear a grudge against me.
4 My heart is in anguish within me;
the terrors of death have fallen upon me.
5 Fear and trembling come upon me,
and horror overwhelms me.
6 And I say, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove!
I would fly away and be at rest;
7 yes, I would wander far away;
I would lodge in the wilderness; Selah
8 I would hurry to find a shelter
from the raging wind and tempest.”
9 Destroy, O Lord, divide their tongues;
for I see violence and strife in the city.
10 Day and night they go around it
on its walls,
and iniquity and trouble are within it;
11 ruin is in its midst;
oppression and ...