Philippians 1:6 - “Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on tocompletion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

We humans are great starters but often bad finishers.  We leave unfinished symphonies, unfinished buildings, unfinished books, unfinished projects.  We may not always finish what we start but God always finishes what he starts. God doesn’t create a bird and give him half a wing.  He created an unfinished flower or an unfinished star.  He puts the finishing touches on everything he does and then he says, “It is good.”

The Bible says, when Jesus Christ starts working in your life, he will complete what he started, in spite of the hang-ups, faults, bad decisions, sins, and circumstances that we face. One day when we get to heaven we’re going to become just like Jesus because we will see Him as He is.  And that’s the goal.

In the meantime, if we want to enjoy the people in our lives, we need to be patient with their progress.  We must allow for their growth and development.  Paul could say, “I’m not the man I used to be, thank God.  But also, thank God, I’m not the man I’m going to be. I’m growing and changing.”

If you want to enjoy your marriage, you’ve got to learn to enjoy your husband or your wife right now while allowing for growth and development.  Otherwise, by the time they meet your conditions, you will have still another condition for them to meet. Parents, if you’re going to learn to enjoy your kids, you’ve got to learn to enjoy them in the process while they’re growing, because there is no such thing as a perfect kid. And there’s no such thing as a perfect adult.  If you demand perfection of the people in your life in order to enjoy them, you’re going to be miserable for the rest of your life.  Nobody’s perfect.
(From Rick Warren’s daily devotional.)

Let’s continue to pray for ourselves and others with the confidence of Philippians 1:6.

-AP