Work In Progress

Philippians 1:6

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

Although the lifting of restrictions on the 19th July was a fantastic relief, I was disappointed we didn’t all get a big bank holiday with street parties to celebrate the end of Coronavirus. The reality is it is still very much part of our lives, particularly on a global scale, and will be for many years to come. There won’t be an ‘end point’; we have just entered a new part of the journey. 

Our own growth and personal development is much the same. As much as I love to tick things off and put them behind me, character doesn’t work like that. Sometimes God is encouraging us to focus on a particular area to work on, while in others we rest in our current stage of growth. There’s always work to be done - we are never ‘complete’, we are all work in progress. 

Lockdown taught me many things, but mostly that I need to stop trying to make myself perfect. It’s simply unattainable. So, a few dropped balls here and there, or being stagnant in growth for a while, is absolutely OK; it’s all part of the continuous healing and wholeness process we are on. 

This is not to discourage you from continuing to pursue God’s deep work in your life, but if there are times when things feel like they aren’t progressing or are on hold, take comfort – God is still with you, and he’s still working in you and on you. Through it all, he is adding on new layers of understanding of who he is and who we are in him. We can trust that he ‘will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus’, and that he is setting the pace of growth. 

Prayer – Jesus, thank you that one day we will be with you. Thank you that there will be no more brokenness or pain, and life as you intended it will be restored. Until then, I am grateful for being a work in progress. Remind me of the freedom this offers in all I do today.