I was challenged by a coworker to memorize scripture with her this coming year.   I said yes, because it is January and I plan to do 1,493 things and do them perfectly this year.  My theory this year is this:  If I make 25 resolutions this year and only keep five of them, it is better than making five and keeping none.   I’ll let you know how that goes.

We are memorizing the book of Philippians.  I have memorized 6 verses and the last one obviously is Philippians 1:6 cuz I’m going in order says this:  Being Confident of this:

He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Every time in the past that I have read this verse I have thought about Paul and believed that He was saying that to all of us …. that God would Complete the good work that had begun in me.  And since Steve Green sang it to me personally every time I listened to the cassette, I knew that it was about me.

Until yesterday when I realized that this verse has more than one implication.   We can be like Paul when it comes to the people around us.  How much would it change the way we lived if we were truly confident that God was going to complete the good work he started in our children?  In our spouses? In our pastor?  In our parents?  In our clients or customers?  In our fellow church members?  In our coworkers?  In our bosses or in the people who work for us?

So I’m asking you to join me to day in asking yourself if you are really confident that God is going to do what He promised and complete the good work he has started in the people around us.   If so, that means that we can focus on our relationship with others — not on changing everyone else — because that is God’s job and he can do it better than us.   

That last sentence is a  good one so I’m going to conclude by repeating it:   We can focus on our relationship with others — not on changing everyone else — because that is God’s job and he can do it better than us.