Grace Overcomes Fear
“And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1:6 ESV)
It seems as though too often I find myself stuck in a paralyzing fear. It’s the fear of whether or not I am progressing in my faith. Do you know what I mean?
Like, I’ll read my Bible & I’ll look at my life & it doesn’t seem that the two match. I have hatred in my heart towards people. I have wicked thoughts. I do evil deeds. I keep messing up. Am I really a Christian? Am I a hypocrite?
Whenever I start thinking about it, I get really worried. Eternity is an extremely long time. I can’t be playing games with it. The Bible seems to be pretty clear that we only get one shot at life & what we do in this short time is going to have eternal implications. I can not waste my life. There is too much at stake!
So when I read Paul’s words here, I am given great comfort & that crippling fear is driven away. Here’s why. God is not giving up on me. Ever. Even when I stumble, even when I fall, even when I screw everything up, even when I wreck everything, God is not going to throw in the towel.
He is the one that started the work in me and He says that He is going to finish it! Since He is God, I can bank on it that He will keep His word. I can trust Him to be faithful. He is good and He does good.
So if He is the one that is doing the work of changing me & making me new then what role do I play? How am I to exert my efforts? What do I do with this feeling inside of me that beckons me to do something to grow in my faith?
The answer is in Paul’s next statement –
“It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel.” (Philippians 1:7 ESV)
We “partake of grace in the gospel”. In other words, we feast upon the good news that God has sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to do everything needed to put us in a right relationship with God. We walk in His grace, trust in His grace, & delight in His grace.
Because of His grace displayed in the Gospel, Jesus becomes our hope, our joy, & our treasure. Every ounce of my faith is in Him & the reconciling work He has completed on my behalf.
Since then it is by grace that He began the good work in us & by grace He is going to complete it, our role is simply to surrender to His work. Let him do whatever He wants with me. And since He is good & does good, I don’t have to fear anymore about my progress.
Jared Pete Parker 