being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
At some point you have probably walked into a restaurant or a store where renovations are taking place and seen a sign that says: “Please excuse our mess. Under construction.” The sign is there to help us to have appropriate expectations during our visit to that particular establishment. It is placed there for us to see in hopes of generating an atmosphere of grace when conditions aren’t optimal. And for the most part those signs are fairly successful. We can see beyond the mess if given a little context.
But when it comes to our own lives…a little “mess” can throw us for a loop. Life doesn’t always go the way we expect it to. People disappoint us and we often screw up. But none of us walk around with a sign around our necks reminding us that mess is inevitable when construction is ongoing. Instead we get frustrated with others and we get down on ourselves. The confidence we have in others and in ourselves that things will ever be different than they are in our lowest moments, is shaken.
The truth is that we all really are works in progress. God is hard at work in my life and in your life…and sometimes the renovation is pretty messy. Change often is. But when our confidence in others and in ourselves feels like demolition gone all wrong, we can be confident in the work God is doing in us. The work He is doing is good! It’s FOR our good! And He won’t stop until it’s finished.
Maybe we can’t all don signs around our necks today reminding others and ourselves that some extra grace may be required…we’ve all got a little mess in our lives. But maybe we can ask God to change our perspective and our expectations today. It’s ok to be a work in progress. Everybody is. But God’s renovation plan is a good one.
