To Live is Christ — knowing God’s plans will be fulfilled

When I first met RA, she was needy, full of herself, and mad at the world. She had just become a Christian, but showing up for church was almost the only evidence. Those who knew her and picked her up each week said they dreaded those short periods with her because she was such a negative person.

However, God did not stop at forgiveness of her sin. He had more in mind for this woman and her problem-filled life. Within six months, she was transformed from an angry, attention-seeking, childish adult, to a joyful woman who never stops smiling. She says she spends hours in the Bible and in prayer. Her face shows her deep awareness of God in her life. Her problems have not changed, but she has. When I read these verses, I think of her.

I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;  (Philippians 1:3–6)

I also think of several others on my heart in whom God has begun a good work, but it seems as if He has stopped. They are not growing, at least not at my visibility level. I wonder at times if they have real faith or if God has set them on a shelf.

Then I remember that Paul knew God would finish what He started with the Christians at Philippi and my concerns become prayers of thanksgiving. God has a plan for each one of the people He saves. It might not go the way I expect or envision, but nothing is too hard for Him, and nothing can stop Him from doing what He has planned.

Today is Easter Sunday, the day Christians celebrate the greatest plan of all, God’s amazing plan of salvation. We know that we “were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from our aimless conduct received by tradition from our fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, and was manifest in these last times for us who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that our faith and hope are in God” (1 Peter 1:17–21).

God planned redemption through Christ before He created the world. Christ was revealed to us, and through Him we are saved. Our part is trusting in Him and confessing our sins — and we can do that because, “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love” (Ephesians 1:4).

Sometimes I get anxious about those who profess Christ but seem to be stagnating in their faith. Then I remember that God finishes what He starts. I still pray for them, but with confidence, not fear.

Sometimes I get anxious about those who do not know Christ, worrying that they will perish. Then I remember that God has a plan and that nothing is too hard for Him. He can start someone on the road to heaven, keep them there, and bring them to that final destination. I still pray for them too, but the anxiety is replaced with confidence in the ability of God to finish what He starts and to do all things well.