Forty Days Full - An Invitation To Real Life

Day Thirty-Five: God Finishes What He Starts

“Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Phil 1:6 NIV) “And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.” (Phil 1:6 New Living Translation) T he work of transformation in our lives is a joint effort. We must surrender our lives to the Holy Spirit and believe in the work that Christ accomplished for us. But God does all the heavy lifting. He does the more difficult part. There is an inward regeneration that is usually invisible to us. Paul puts it this way in I Corinthians 4:16, "Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day." It's hard to see the process when we have to look at ourselves in the mirror every day. Sometimes it feels like nothing is happening. Then God will give a glimpse that progress is taking place. Our family loves the snow. A few years ago, I took my two daughters on a skiing trip to Bend, Oregon. During the day Stephanie needed to barrow the keys to get something back at the car. If you've ever been skiing that is not a simple ordeal. As I gave them to her, I reminded her to be careful with them. It was a glorious day, so we skied until the lifts were shutting down. As we were carrying all of our gear back to the car, I turned to Stephanie to ask for the keys. She casually reached