“He who began a good work in you will be faithful to
complete it.” Philippians 1:6
Many years ago, on the
west side of the road that runs from my parents’ home to town, someone began to
build a house. And many years later, the
house still was not complete. I know
because with several school bus drivers and then with my older brother and sister
and then behind the wheel myself, I traveled by the site twice a day for over a
decade and stared as the long-exposed foundation was finally lined with a few
framed walls which slowly morphed into a bricked-over but empty shell. And then it sat. Week after week. Month after month. Year after year. A project someone started but failed to
finish.
The half-built house
reminded me of a story…“Suppose one of
you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to
see if you have enough money to complete it? For
if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it
will ridicule you, saying, ‘This person began to build
and wasn’t able to finish’”(Luke 14:28-30). Through the years, this famous parable of Jesus has been
pondered by several considering discipleship, but today it’s being considered
by one pondering devotions.
Early every morning
and late every night when I log on and off my laptop, one icon on the screen
seems bigger and more beckoning than the rest—the folder labeled “Mark
Devotions.” It was created in January and
for the next five months was filled with reflections on the most compact and
action-packed of the four gospels, but then came my daughter’s graduation and
summer vacation and my words begin to wane.
Plans to resume writing when school started back have been halted by an unforeseen
overload of lesson plans, an extra class, curriculum creation, and a steady
stream of swim meets. While all are legitimate
reasons for the delay, I can’t keep putting off until tomorrow what really should
be done today.
I need the discipline
of pondering God’s Word in my heart and putting my words on a page, and I
desire the delight of those very same things.
My mind misses the continual contemplation of a verse, a phrase, or a promise,
and my spirit longs for the deep pleasure of how Scripture can be expounded and
exalted by the simple combination of nouns, verbs, and a few appropriate adjectives. And so, after that long and unsolicited
explanation, I will begin to finish what I’ve begun.
Perhaps it’s a good
time for all of us to think about those projects we like to say are “in
process.” Few can truthfully tout we
have none which are unfinished. For
some, what lies undone is physical—a half-organized shed or a partially
completed scrapbook. For others, it’s relational—calls
not made, notes not written, or an apology never offered. In one way or another (and usually both and
many), we all have stopped some stuff we need to start back up. The break isn’t always bad, and time away can
bring clarity and renewed energy, but there comes a moment (which for me is
today) when we must pick up the hammer, pick up the phone, or pick up the pen,
and begin again.
The One who began a good work in us
will be faithful to complete it.
Let’s not stop until we finish what we’ve
started for Him, in Him, and through Him.
By the way, the
house by the highway was finally finished just a few years ago. It’s rarely too late to resume!
