Philippians 1:6 (NLT)

And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue His work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.

Welcome to this 30-day devotional series on soul wellness. Over the coming month, I’ll be sharing a daily article drawn from God’s Word, each one focused on the wellness of your soul, the development of your character, and your growth in Christ. My prayer is that as you read, the light of God’s Word would shine on the eyes of your understanding, and that you would grow in this area of your life more than ever before. Take each day slowly, let the Word settle in your heart, and come expectant. God has something for you in every entry.

Can I be honest with you about something I have watched quietly weigh down so many believers? It is shame. Not the shame of some scandalous sin, but the softer, more constant shame of simply being “a work in progress.” The shame of still having rough edges. The shame of making a mistake on a journey we were told should already look polished.

Somewhere along the way, many of us absorbed a quiet lie. We grew up in environments that were, at times, overly religious. Environments that prized the appearance of maturity over the reality of it. And so we learned to perform a kind of microwave growth, a finished product served up before it had ever truly cooked. We believed we were supposed to arrive at salvation already complete, already polished, already perfect. And when we inevitably fell short of that impossible image, we did what frightened people do: we hid it, we covered it, and we pretended.

But friend, that is not the gospel. That is legalism dressed up in Sunday clothes.

Here is the truth that sets the soul free: if we could do this by ourselves, we would never have needed a Saviour. Think about it gently for a moment. If we had been born perfect, there would be nothing left to perfect. If we had been born complete, there would be nothing left to complete. If we had not been dead in our sin, there would have been no need to be made alive. The very fact that Jesus came, that He gave Himself, is the loudest proof that you and I were never meant to manufacture our own wholeness. We are being grown. We get to experience higher levels of the freedom and healing we have already received in Christ. We are being made, and we are becoming more acquainted with who Christ has made us to be.

Look again at what Paul says. He is certain. Not hopeful, not crossing his fingers, but certain that the God who began a good work in you will be the very One to carry it through to completion. The work started with Him, and it will be finished by Him. Your growth was never resting on your performance.

The word Paul uses for that finishing work is rich and tender:

ἐπιτελέω (epiteleō): to bring something fully to completion, to perfect it, to finish what was started.

It carries the picture of a craftsman who does not abandon His project halfway. He returns to it, day after day, patiently, until it is everything He purposed it to be. That craftsman is your Father. And you are the good work in His hands.

So let me say to you what I wish someone had said to me sooner: you are allowed to grow. In fact, you are meant to. Growth is not the embarrassing evidence that you are failing. It is the beautiful evidence that you are alive in Him. Dead things do not grow. Only living things stretch and change and reach toward the light. If you are still being shaped, still being corrected, still learning, take heart. That stretch you feel is not failure. It is growth.

And please hear this, because I think we have confused the two for far too long: your religious activity is not the same thing as your relationship. All the serving, all the showing up, all the spiritual busyness in the world cannot substitute for the slow, real work of growing. Growing in your relationship with Christ, growing in His Word, growing in your character and even in your personality. God is not only interested in what you do for Him. He is interested in who you are becoming with Him.

So would you let yourself off the hook today? Would you stop being ashamed of being a work in progress? The masterpiece is not yet finished, and that is exactly as it should be. Lean into the perfecting. Let the Craftsman keep working. He is so very good at what He does, and He has never once abandoned a project He started.

Pray The Word

Heavenly Father, thank You for beginning a good work in me, and thank You that the finishing of it rests in Your faithful hands and not in my own striving. I lay down the shame of being “a work in progress”, and I receive the grace to grow. Thank You that my mistakes are not disqualifications but part of the perfecting You are lovingly doing in me. I trust You to carry me all the way to completion, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Speak The Word

I am a good work that God Himself began, and He is faithful to complete me. I am alive in Christ, and my growth is the proof of His life in me. I refuse the shame of being a work in progress, because I am being perfected by the hands of a faithful God. I lean into His perfecting, and I grow without fear. I am becoming everything my Father purposed me to be, in the name of Jesus Christ!