Philippians 1:6
Philippians 1:6-6 For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.
I don’t know about your current mindset, but lately, mine is mostly skeptical regarding just about everything. The recent events and revelations from our current culture, locally, nationally and around the world, leave me wondering if we can trust anything or anyone lately. It is bothersome when we are partially fooled, but it is particularly concerning and hurtful when we discover that someone or something we had put our trust in turns out to be a total lie. Well, the apostle Paul had an encouraging word for the Philippians as recorded in the passage above, and that is the topic of today’s devotional journey. Paul is making a promise, and his promise is especially important to us because his words were inspired by the Holy Spirit. Because of this inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they apply to us as we read them today. Even though they were penned over 2000 years ago, they are still relevant and true—the promise holds.
Paul uses the Greek word pepoithus which the NASB translates as “confidence” to describe his surety of the fact he is giving the Philippians—basically that what Jesus started in your life, He will finish. So, it is important as a Christian to remember that no matter who or what led you to Jesus, it was Jesus who “began a good work in you”, it was His Spirit that convicted and led you to the relationship you have in Jesus. It was Jesus willingly dying for your sins (the cross, where the “good work” began) that made the relationship possible, and it is Jesus who works each day in your life to lead you in sanctification (“perfect it until the day…”).
When I think of the “work” Jesus began in me, I think of what He told the disciples in preparing them for His impending death on the cross: “Truly, truly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:24 NASB). Jesus knew He had to die to “finish” the mission God had sent Him to do for mankind. He calls on us to die to self also so that we can finish the mission God has for us—to become like Jesus. We must die to self, and when we do, we begin the journey that leads us to be like Him (“we shall be like Him” 1 John 3:2). Only when we die to self can He perfect us so we can begin to bear “much fruit” in our journey.
1. Has Christ begun a good work in you?
2. Are you confident of that?
3. Have you died to self so He can help you bear fruit along your journey?
4. Have you made yourself available to Him to use in beginning a good work in someone else?
Father of grace and mercy, lead us to the confidence Paul had for the Philippians—that Your Son Jesus is at work in us and will continue until we are perfect like Him. Guide us each day and each step in our Christian journey. I ask these things in the name of Him through whom we are saved. Amen.