God’s Good Work

Galatians 1:6 says “Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.” God has begun a good work in each of His children who accept Him as their Lord. From the moment of salvation (and yes, even before) His work has begun to accomplish His specific and special purpose He has set aside and carved out specifically for each one of us (Ps. 139:16; Jer. 29:11). For me that purpose is one of husband, dad and Pastor. For some it is missionary work. For others it is evangelism, Sunday school teachers, doctors, lawyers, police officers, teachers, coaches, EMT, construction workers, etc. In whatever capacity you live, understand as a child of the King it is to ultimately serve your heavenly Father and His “good work” (Gal. 2:20; Phil. 3:7-14; Eccl. 9:10). Charles Spurgeon once said: “Christ’s might doth not lie in making a believer and leaving him to shift for himself; but He who begins the good work carries it on.” What a powerful truth!
As I dwelled on that statement, I was confronted with a disturbing thought: How many of us fight against that purpose? How often do we by our choices, thoughts and actions prevent God’s good work from being accomplished in our lives? We return to old, selfish habits (Gal. 4:9; 2 Pet. 2:22), forget & ignore the grace of God (Rom. 6:1-2) and in so doing enslave ourselves to old, sinful ways (Rom. 6:16). It’s equal to being on death row and being offered a complete pardon and rejecting the offer of freedom. It’s like being offered a multi-million dollar contract to play a professional sport and playing in a sandlot league instead. It’s like being called out of a life of construction work to serve God in ministry and remaining in the truck! (For those construction workers out there, that’s a personal reference. Take no offense to your profession as none is intended!)
What a troubling dilemma! One that Paul knew all too well. He writes about his own personal struggles in Romans 7:13-25. He talks openly about how the good things he wants to do he doesn’t accomplish, but the things he knows to be evil & doesn’t want to do are the things he makes a habit out of doing! Anyone relate???? Me too. So what’s the solution? Paul gives it in Rom. 7:24-25: “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Jesus Christ is the answer; plain and simple. We must force out the natural, sinful tendencies in our hearts & minds by filling them with Christ. We must continually remind ourselves we each have a God given purpose & when confronted with the daily decisions of life ask ourselves if this is the good work which God has given us to accomplish. Personally, I’m convicted to stop fighting against God’s purpose and start fighting for God’s purpose. It’s the only thing on this temporal earth that has any eternal value.