Feb. 29 | The Promise of God Finishing What He Started
Philippians 1:6, “…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.”
Have you ever started something and didn’t finish it? Maybe you made a New Year’s resolution and couldn’t even keep it for a month. God is the exact opposite; He completes everything He starts. Concerning our salvation, Paul wrote in today’s passage that it is God who started it and God will complete it. We just need to wait patiently, until the rapture of the church to receive the final part; the redemption of our bodies. Then after the seven years of tribulation, Jesus will return to rule the earth for one thousand years; and we will live on the earth with the same nature as Jesus (Luke 14:14 & 1 Corinthians 15:51-54).
Your new body will be forever perfected and unified with your inner self (soul). Paul wrote, in 1 Corinthians 15:49 concerning this promise, “And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man.” When the Lord raptures the church and brings us to heaven, He will also change our bodies to be like Him. Paul wrote, in 1 Corinthians 15:52, “In a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.”
Be encouraged to know that God will finish on the outside what He started on the inside. You will not always carry around this “body of death,” that has sickness, weakness and earthly impulses to sin (Romans 7:24-25); but, it will be rescued and transformed by Jesus. On that day, your saved and sanctified soul will be forever joined with a glorified body.
When Jesus returns all believers will be given a new spiritual body, so until that day, think of your salvation as a treasure in a jar of clay (2 Corinthians 4:7). Your new “inner nature” is the treasure in the jar of clay of your earthly body; and one day, when Christ comes, you will be given a new body that’s made perfect for all eternity. Fredrick Robertson said, “He alone can believe in immortality who feels the resurrection in him already.” Jesus is not only going to finish what He started in you, He is also going to finish what He started with the human race. Jesus will re-create a perfect people to spend eternity with Him in loving fellowship!
REFLECTION
Are you confident that Jesus will one day give you a new body?
ACTION
- Rejoice in the work of Jesus that purchased for you your salvation, starting from the inside out.
- Trust and be confident, in God, that one day you will forever be changed in your body.
- Preach the gospel to the lost so they, too, can be saved in their body, soul and spirit.