What Is God’s Continuing Good Work?

Did You Know God Is Still Working in You?

Paul wrote to the Philippian church,

“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” (Philippians 1:6 NIV).

Have you ever felt, as a Christian, that you were a total failure in becoming what God intends you to be?

One day, maybe a year after I became a Christian, I sat on my bed weeping with guilt. The Holy Spirit gently nudged me to confess my sin (1 John 1:9), and then Philippians 1:6 came to mind.

Great peace filled my soul when I remembered that Father God was not finished working on me.

When I was younger, I loved to sing a children’s song, “He’s Still Working on Me.” The chorus goes like this:

“There really ought to be a sign upon my heart, Don’t judge him yet, there’s an unfinished part.

But I’ll be better, just according to His plan, Fashioned by the Master’s loving hands.”

Paul must have encountered some Christians in Philippi like that—people who judged others, especially baby Christians who were not yet spiritually mature.

Even Paul might have gotten “judge-y” at times. We all do.

Yet Paul was fully persuaded about God’s continuing work in believers, and his truth talk to the Philippian church was to be confident in God’s good work too.

Notice that it is God who begins the good work in us. It’s not that God fails to do a complete job in our salvation. No! When He offered salvation to the enemies of His holiness (Colossians 1:21), He promised to save them to the uttermost, in Christ, and for all time and eternity (Hebrews 7:25).

God not only launched His work in us with salvation, He will continue to work on us and inside us so He can work powerfully through us. It’s a blessing to me that throughout the process of change, the Son of God, Jesus, “always lives to intercede” for us (Hebrews 7:25). He cares about our spiritual growth.

Notice that Paul said God “will carry it on to completion.”

What is the “it?”

The “it” is God shaping us with just the right finishing touches to make us more like His Son, Jesus (Romans 8:29). He’s going to make us holy like His Son, loving like His Son, etc. His good work includes chiseling away what does not belong in our lives, and adding in what does. He won’t quit until the job is done!

Never despise God’s shaping, chiseling and adding. It’s His good work for your good!

Psalm 138:8 (NKJV) says, “The LORD will perfect that which concerns me.” The psalmist concludes that verse with “Do not forsake the works of Your hands.” That does not mean that God would ever forsake His children” (see Deuteronomy 31:8; Hebrews 13:5b). The verse is a prayer that means, “Keep your promises to me, God! Fulfill your purpose for me!”

Be fully settled then. Your faithful Father will perfect that which concerns you.

COOPERATE in the Process.

It’s all God’s work, but we have a part to play too. Paul was clear about God always working in us—but we need to believe that, trust Him for transformation, and obey Him one step at a time.

Grant Richison, in his comments about Philippians 1:6, shared this powerful example. “Many people are bedeviled by the idea that God may lose control of their situation. But God will not give up on us. He will let us go about as far as a dog on a leash. When we run from the Lord and come to the end of our leash, we come to a terrible jerk!”

Ouch! I’ve felt that terrible jerk of the leash many times. Have you? As God works in us, His “leash is always firmly attached in love.

We may have to sometimes learn from our willfulness or sinful choices, 
but our Father’s desire is not to inflict pain without purpose. 

It’s not a matter of whether we have the ability or capacity to follow through in becoming more like Jesus. We don’t stand a chance without the Word of God and Spirit of God. Our confidence is in God’s ability and capacity to finish His work.

God wants us to COOPERATE in that process. We can’t suddenly say when the going gets tough, “Oops. I didn’t know that this is what it means to come to Christ. I want out!” In cooperation, we learn to pay attention to the Word of God and the Holy Spirit’s urgings as God designs us for His glory, our growth, and others’ good.

And when the process gets tough, we can run to God with confidence, seeking mercy and grace to help in our struggle (Hebrews 4:16). He is so ready to welcome us.

Where have you felt the jerk of God’s loving leash in your life? Or how about His shaping, chiseling and adding? How might you better cooperate with God as He completes His work in you?

Dawn Wilson, the founder and director of Heart Choices Today, is the creator of Truth Talk with Dawn. She is a contracted worker for the Revive Our Hearts ministry, and a regular columnist at Crosswalk.com. Dawn’s book, Truth Talk for Hurting Hearts, will be out in 2024. She and her husband live in sunny Southern California. They have two grown, married sons and three granddaughters she affectionately calls her “kiddles.”

Graphic Adapted: Courtesy of Mircea Iancu at Pixabay.