God Is Not Finished With Me Yet
“He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.” (1 Thessalonians 5:24 ESV)
This is the absolute bottom line of the New Covenant! Salvation belongs to the Lord, and he will accomplish it for us. Praise him! God calls us and he is faithful. He will do it!
At least two other references ought to be mentioned here too.
“And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion
at the day of Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1:6 ESV)
And the faithful saying:
“If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful—
for he cannot deny himself.” (2 Timothy 2:11–13 ESV)
Philippians 1:6 presents the scope of the project to save us. God has begun a good work in us. He started the work and we are in the process of being saved by him. It will not be completed until the day of Jesus Christ. That day may come in part for us individually before it comes on a global scale. If we die before Christ returns then our salvation will be very nearly completed. Our bodies will wait for the full day of the Lord to come for salvation. Our bodies will then be raised incorruptible. We ought to have confidence that God will complete what he has started, and we ought to have patience. We cannot expect the completed project before God’s time. Remember the phrase “Please be patient with me, God is not finished with me yet?” Remember we are in process. But never doubt that God will bring the project to completion in his time. God is not a contractor who does not complete his work!
The faithful saying from Timothy brings in more of our responsibility to suffer, die, endure, and be faithful. It also contains a warning that if we deny him he will deny us. Our perseverance is important. It is the one who overcomes who receives salvation. If we deny him we have no assurance that he began a good work in us. The denial indicates that we were never one of his children. (See 1 John 2:19) We should never allow our assurance of salvation to become a presumption. Make sure of your salvation. “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves” (2 Corinthians 13:5 ESV) If God is working in us it will be demonstrated in our growing walk with the Lord.
But the fantastically encouraging thing is that this faithful saying ends with the promise that God remains faithful even when we have failed. He cannot deny himself. We come to God not on our own. We come in the person of Jesus Christ. God cannot deny Jesus Christ! We are saved by the work of Jesus. This is how God completes the good work! Praise God!