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. (Phil. 1:6 NIV)
The things that stand out to me in this verse are the words “in” (as in “he who began a good work IN you”) and “carry it on”.
I think I have often lived as if this verse said “he who began a good work THROUGH you…” as if God is most interested (or really I am most interested) in God using me to do great things. This is so self-centered and so prideful. To think that when things aren’t going well in my life or ministry that somehow I can be encouraged by the idea that God is going continue to use me in His own way – this is simply not what the verse says. It says that when things aren’t going well in my eyes or as I see things, that doesn’t matter. That’s external. God is doing a work IN me. He is interested in shaping me and forming me and transforming me on the inside. The encouragement from this verse is that God wants to do a work inside me and that outside situations and circumstances are not the ends, but merely a means to an end – to change me on the inside.
And then Paul goes on to say that God will “carry it on” – and I picture God carrying me through this process of inner transformation. It is not something I do, but it is something He does from beginning to end. That means I need to continue to let HIM carry me, rather than try to transform through my actions or brute force efforts. Imagine if there was a train that took us to a mountain top, and there were no other way to get to the top. And imagine that there were other modes of transportation available to us – cars, bikes, buses, etc. The fact of the matter is, there is no way up that mountain except by train. The train must carry us or transport us to the top. And yet despite that, many people get in their cars and buses to try. God is like that train. Only He can get us to the top. And so often we try on our own to get there by getting into our metaphorical cars and buses to do what only He can. So if I am going to be transformed, I MUST go to God to be transferred to the top of mountain. That’s why this 40 Days in the Word journey is so important. It disciplines me to get aboard God’s train to continue His good work IN me.