WORK IN PROGRESS
PHILIPPIANS CHAPTER 3 VERSE 7-14
But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Like a popular sign in a building or construction site, “work in progress” denotes a process of repair, maintenance or building work going on. This is exactly what Christians are. We are all “work in progress”. God is continuously working in us to reconstruct the broken down walls of our lives, maintain the good part and continue to build us up; until we are able to reach the mark for the prize of His high calling in Jesus Christ.
In the building and reconstruction work God is doing on us, He is making use of His inspired word to sharpen and renew us. His worship, His will and various good works done in His name also help in the building up process. So is His chastisement and discipline on us to correct, reprove and bring us to the right path when we go astray.
God's will for Us is that we should grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus, no longer bases, which are tossed up and down by winds of false doctrine. He wants us to grow in faith and be strong in the power of His might; to grow in love and self-sacrifice. Indeed “work in progress” that's what we are. Let us allow God to work in us and on us; even to eternal life.
We need to take every of God's message as life transforming process; every life's lessons and discipline as a learning process; “till we all come to the unity of faith and of the knowledge of the son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ”(Ephesians 4:13). We should be humble enough to acknowledge our mistakes, repent and make necessary amendments.
We learn from our experience, put it behind us and move ahead. “Forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before”. We should speakthe truth in love, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.‘ Life is all a learning process, the greatest mistake is not learning from a mistake.
As we have started our journey in this year, let us make the best of our experiences of the year in transit and forge ahead with courage and faith in God for a prosperous 2018.
Thanks for sharing this Work in Progress. I think that's the one of the many things I struggle with as a Christian is not to be perfect, but to be better. It's ok to fall down as we're running towards our lord and savior on our journey as Christians.
Thanks for sharing these words with us.