IT’S ALL GOD’S DOING
Hi all!
I was reading in Philippians one morning when a couple of verses really hit me. Philippians 2:13 states, “For it is God who works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure”. Then in Philippians 1:6 it says, “He who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ”. What struck me is the fact that nothing is of my own doing! My very desire to be saved was a work of God in me. He gave me the will to WANT His salvation and the WILL to be drawn! As the popular worship song clearly states, “It’s all about Him, it’s not about me!” Then, once the work of initially saving me is over, He continues to work to make me holy, to sanctify me, to make me more like His Son. The unbelievable thing is that once he starts this good work, He continues to work and will continue to do it all for His good pleasure!
This is true for me AND it is true for you! How cool is that! It brings the God of this universe pleasure to first bring us to Himself by His will working in us. Then it brings Him good pleasure to continue to work in us for that good pleasure. It is so wonderful even though it sounds like a broken record-He starts something for His good pleasure and continues something for the same reason! How fantastic this is!! What a loving God He is! How much He wants a restored relationship with us-not because we are so wonderful and worthy of His efforts, but because it gives Him pleasure!
It humbles me to think that He is willing to do all this so that I can have all of His grace and goodness even though I deserve none of it. It moves me to tears to try to grasp such love, such depth of loving expression, such goodness. To top it all off, He will continue His efforts on our behalf-efforts to make us like His beloved Son-until that Son returns to get us!! As the song goes, “He who began a good work in me; He who began a good work in me-will be faithful to complete it; He’ll be faithful to complete it; He who started a good work will be faithful to complete it in me!!” Could anyone ever be more faithful than that? This ought to put us on our faces in worship before this gracious yet Almighty God!!