Your Life is a Work in Progress

 God is our creator. If you have achieved some things, who gave you your talents?

For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not? 1 Cor 4:7 NIV

Do you have a very good knowledge of the Bible? There is always someone who understands better. Who gave you a mind to understand?

We cannot understand anything of God's truth without the grace and revelation that comes only from the Holy Spirit.

Unless the LORD builds the house, the builders labour in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain. Ps 127:1 NIV

Imagine you're working on a building site. The architect is a genius. His plans are available, but you want to design everything yourself. A bit silly, isn't it?

Your life is a building site. We are all a work in progress.

Paul, the great apostle, knew that he had not reached God's holy perfection.

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Php 3:12 NIV

God has given you his plans. You have the Bible, the Word of God. But how can we understand God's deep wisdom in the Bible? God has given us his Spirit.

If you have given your life into Jesus' hands, He has given you His Spirit. Do you know the Holy Spirit personally? Or is the Spirit of God just a theological concept for you?

“If you love me, keep my commands.
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— Jn 14:15–16 NIV

Without Jesus we are lost and without God. If you trust Jesus and want to follow him, he will forgive your sins. Firstly, Jesus says that he wants our love. If we love him, we will obey his commandments.

But what Jesus is asking is impossible. It's like telling your five-year-old son to build his own house, get married, find a job and have children.

That is why Jesus promises in the next verse that He will give us His Holy Spirit as our counsellor, who alone can enable us to live a life with God. The Holy Spirit can do this because He Himself is God.

The first disciples could only follow Jesus because Jesus was with them.

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 1 Jn 1:1 NIV

Jesus wants to give us an experience of God's presence that is just as tangible as the fellowship of the first apostles with Jesus before the cross and then after his resurrection.

Have I come that far? Not yet, although I have wonderful experiences with God.

Like Paul, I can say.

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Php 3:12 NIV