Hello family,
The beginning of each year is a time for us to take stock of our progress as a disciple of Jesus Christ. As we review the past year, I’m sure we’ll be filled with a myriad of feelings! Some wonderfully happy from overcoming impossible odds, and others sorrowful due to calamities, be it the loss of a loved one, health or physical property. While we rejoice and thank God for our successes, let us not become myopic in our vision as a result of the disappointments. Instead, continue to look towards our Lord Jesus, the author and perfector of our lives.
For those of us who’ve had a less than ideal year and wished it could have been better, I’d like to encourage you with Philippians 1:6, “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.”
Dear disciples, the good work God has begun in us is the work of salvation. This work of salvation began a long time ago, way before we were even formed in our mother’s womb. In fact, Scripture tells us that, “he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in love before him.” (Ephesians 1:4) And at the Last Supper, Jesus told His disciples, “You did not choose me, but I chose you.” (John 15:16) Have no doubt about this: God has chosen us. God has begun the good work of salvation in us.
In Philippians 1:6, Apostle Paul carries on to remind us that God is the one who has begun the work of salvation in our lives, and God is the one who will finish that work in our lives. Apostle Paul also tells us this work of salvation will be completed on “the day of Jesus Christ,” which refers to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. I want all of us to know that God’s work of salvation does not depend on whether or not you hold onto your faith, it depends on this precious fact: even if you can’t hold onto your faith, God never stops holding onto you!
That’s what Apostle Paul meant in 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24, “May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do this.” Dear family, no matter what challenges we encounter today, our Lord is with us and He will see us through, because God always finishes what He starts.
- Apostolic Overseer Nina Khong