A Work in Progress

Sometimes I get mad at myself when I mess up.  I think to myself, “Scott, you’re past this—you shouldn’t be doing this anymore.”  It’s at those times that I have to realize that I’m not perfect…yet.  I’m a work in progress.

Paul, in his God-breathed letter to the church at Philippi says this,

“I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, 4 always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. 6 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 1:3-6, ESV).

“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.”  Paul is saying that God has persuaded him ( I am sure of this).   God begins a good work in our lives when we are baptized into Christ, but a lot of us think that’s where the work stops. Some will even go out on a limb to say that when you become a Christians, you never should sin again.  Well, if that’s the case, then we violate 1 John 1:8 which says,

“If we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”

I can probably lay out a mile-long list of sins just from this morning.  I know I still sin. We will still sin until we leave this earth.  Count on that.

With all things, however, we must be sure to find the middle ground.  Just because we’re a work in progress doesn’t mean we have a license to sin without consequence.  Paul writes to the Roman church,

“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?” (Rom. 6:1-2).

We aren’t perfect, but we must strive for that perfection that God puts in our sights.  That’s a process called sanctification. We must reach up to God every single day, knowing that He has a plan and a purpose for us, but we must do our part to live as close to His standards as we can.

We spend so much time beating ourselves up over not maturing as fast as we’d like, not growing as quickly as some of our brothers and sisters.  We need to really get the point that we are on a journey of holiness, not a quick fix, do-it-yourself, no help needed salvation.  God chose to perfect us through a lengthy process.  We will continue to grow until He thinks we’re ready, then He will take us from this world to inherit all that He has promised.

So the next time you start getting frustrated with your spiritual walk, remember Paul’s words:  “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.”  Like the great artist who takes decades to complete one single painting, you too, are God’s work in progress.  God is molding, shaping, and chipping away all the sin in a day-by-day process.  We aren’t there yet, but if we keep striving, we will be!  Just something to think about.

An Attitude Check

There once was a woman who woke up one morning, looked in the mirror, and noticed she had only three hairs on her head. “Well,” she said, “I think I’ll braid my hair today.” So she did and she had a wonderful day. The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and saw that she had only two hairs on her head. “H-m-m, ” she said, “I think I’ll part my hair down the middle today.” So she did and she had a grand day. The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that she had only one hair on her head. “Well,” she said, “today I’m going to wear my hair in a pony tail.” So she did and she had a fun, fun day. The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that there wasn’t a single hair on her head. “YEA!” she exclaimed, “I don’t have to fix my hair today” Attitude is everything (adapted).

Attitude is important.  If we have a bad attitude, we’ll have a bad day.  Test that and see.  I have a bad attitude often enough to realize that is VERY true.  The days when my attitude is good; those are the days when I feel good, I am energetic, and I get things done.  Bad attitudes are a killer to the Christian life and mind, and Satan uses them to his benefit.

The Apostle Paul writes,

“Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus “
(Phil. 2:5).

So what does that even mean?  I mean, I’m no Jesus. I’m certainly not perfect—not even close, and when I look in my spiritual mirror, I’m not to happy with what I see.  Paul says that we should strive to have Jesus’ attitude.  Moving through the following verses we see that Jesus wasn’t arrogant of His position as God (2:6), He put everyone before Himself (2:7), He was humble, not arrogant (2:8), and He sacrificed Himself for others (2:8). He also was focused because He was on a mission:  to seek and save that which was lost (Luke 19:10).  His attitude was also positive (most of the time).

So how can I have that attitude that Paul says we should have?  How do I be like Jesus?  First off, I think I have to recognize very quickly that I am not Jesus.  Think about that—that’ll humble somebody pretty quickly, won’t it? Also, I think we need to check if our attitude is negative. Negative attitudes can quickly kill any influence with anyone.  Do you complain about everything?  Are you never happy with anything?  Do you look for ways to find fault in others?  If you do, you probably have a negative attitude.  Thirdly, we need to always be humble.  We need to put others first and ourselves last. Why? Because that’s the example Jesus gave time and time again throughout the Gospels.  Finally, we need to remember that we are on a mission, the Great Commission, and we need to focus on that.

So how is your attitude?  Is it like Jesus?  Mine’s not.  I must admit that I have a bad attitude pretty often.  I want to serve myself rather than others.  I want to be right when everyone else is wrong. These are things that are wrong, and I’m working on them, but I still strive to the standard that Jesus set.  So what about you?  Do you have the same attitude as Jesus?  Just something to think about.

All Around Us

“For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.” (Romans 1:19-20).

The biggest proof that God is real is found in His creation. Humans have an innate, Built-in desire to worship or believe in something bigger than themselves. How come?  These are some tough questions.

Romans tells us that we can see God through His creation.  What exactly does that mean?  Well, in the context of this passage, Paul is telling us, and the church at Rome that people KNOW in their heart of hearts, that God exists.  Now, whether they choose to deny it, or choose to make up that “god” is up to them, and unfortunately, a lot have made many a choice that goes in the exact opposite direction that God intended. One of the greatest things we have in the area of apologetics is the Creation.

Look all around you, look at the complexity of life.  Look at the sheer magnitude of the Universe.  The Universe, has trillions of galaxies (that we have spotted anyway) and trillions and trillions times trillions and trillions of stars.  It’s a HUGE place, so big that God’s unit of measurement is the light year (how far light travels in 1 year; which is 5.88 trillion miles). Even looking at something smaller, say just the planet earth (which is HUGE), shows the beauty and complexity of our Creator. Think of all the different species of animals and different groups of people.  All of it is incredibly complex.

The point Paul is getting at is this:  If you need proof for God’s existence, look around.  IN fact, Paul says the Creation makes God so obvious that on Judgment Day we will be “without excuse,” meaning that there is no credible reason under the sun to not see the glory of God in His creation.  Now I understand that it’s much more complicated, but I really don’t have the time or space to go into the Creation vs. Evolution debate, but Paul makes it clear that God’s creation serves the purpose of one thing: revealing and glorifying it’s Creator.

Psalm 19 says,

“​​​​​​​​The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.  2 ​​​​​​​​Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.  3 ​​​​​​​​There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard.”

Or, take a look at this:

“​​​​​​​​Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name, by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power not one is missing” (Is. 40:26).

Or what about this:

“​​The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein,  2 ​​​​​​​​for he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers” (Psalm 24:1-2).

If that’s not enough, what about looking at the complexity of the human body?  Look at how complex the 75 trillion cells that make up your body are.  They heart, the brain, they eyes? I was talking to my Optometrist at my last eye appointment, just asking questions about the eye and how it works.  He told me that the human eye is the MOST complex machine on the planet.  No computer, no machine, no scientist can figure out or even comparably mimic the functions of the human eye. In fact, Charles Darwin, the originator of Evolutionary Theory said this:

“To suppose that the eye with all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration, could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest degree” (Origin of Species, Pg. 167).

Based on the eye, which Darwin admitted was incredible, also said that he thought it absurd that the eye could even be formed by his own theory of Natural Selection..  Based on the eye, he admitted his theory collapsed.

So next time you’re out under the stars, or looking into a newborns eyes, thing about Romans 1:20-21.  That the evidence of our loving, creative, magnificent, holy, and beautiful God is playing out around us constantly, like a never-ending symphony.  The creation praises it’s Creator night and day, never stopping.  And we praise God every once in awhile?  I think we might have it backwards.  Just something to think about.