Author and Finisher

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)

The Holy Spirit cannot be seen. His work of regeneration cannot be put under a microscope and studied. It is like the wind. 

Jesus said so himself:

"The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (John 3:8 ESV)

We cannot see the wind, can we? But we can tell when it is there because we can see its effects. We can feel it. We can hear it. We can see what it does. God's grace operates the same way within his people. We cannot see the Spirit of God, but we can certainly see what he does. He works in us and he changes us. He gives us new appetites and desires. He produces faith in us. He works repentance in us. God's grace always evidences itself in some way.

And Paul remembers that grace at work in the Philippian church. He was there when God began his gracious work in them. Paul was a part of it. He witnessed it first-hand. He was there when the Spirit of God opened the heart of Lydia that she might receive the things that were spoken by the Apostle. He was there when the jailor came falling down on his knees, trembling, and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" He himself had baptized many of them. He had seen them changed. He had seen them grow in grace.

What has God done in your life? Was there a time when you came to Christ, trembling, believing? Was there a time when you felt sick in your very soul for your sin and rebellion against God? Was there a time that you remember when spiritual desires were first stirred up in your soul? That kind of thing doesn't come naturally. That's a work of the Spirit of God. That's how God begins his work in us. And if you have that, you can have the assurance that Paul spoke of about the Philippians. If there is an ounce of goodness in you, genuine goodness, it did not come from you. It came from God. He has begun a good work in you. And if he has begun a good work in you, then he is still working in you.

It was not Adam and Eve who went looking for God after the fall. God went looking for them. It was not Abram who went out on his own into the land of Canaan calling for God. No, God called Abram out of Ur of the Chaldees, out of idolatry, to go to a land which God would show him. The people of the world never got together and sent a letter or petition to God asking him to come down and save them. It was God who became flesh and dwelt among us. Far from receiving him gladly we took him and crucified him. It has always been God who has been the initiator in our salvation. It was the Holy Spirit through the Church and through a vision who sent Paul into Macedonia. It was by God's hand that they found themselves down by a riverside on the Sabbath hearing Christ preached by Paul and his band. It was the Spirit of God who opened the heart of Lydia to believe the things that Paul was saying. God, God, God. That is what Paul is saying. Salvation is of the Lord. It is Jesus who is the author of our faith and Jesus who will be the finisher of it.

Today, as you go throughout your day, rest in the confidence that if God has begun a good work in you, then he will surely finish it.