Finished

We rarely finish anything, I mean really finish it.  We might finish a meal.  But, every cook knows that we will eat again and so they will cook again.  Their livelihood depends upon it.  They depend upon us not finishing the job of eating.  The same is true with fixing things.  Inevitably, it will all break again sometime and we’ll either have to fix it or get a new one.  We are bound in a broken universe where entropy is at work.  Continually working to survive is a law as certain as gravity. 

Every vocation experiences the fact that things are never finished.  Every pastor knows that we never really finish anything.  Finish a sermon and start on the next one.  Help someone find life in Christ and spend the rest of life helping them mature in the faith.  Build a program and commit to forever nurture, staff, resource, support and/or replace it.  The same is true with teachers, attorneys, toll booth workers, doctors, salespeople, politicians and business owners/executives.  In fact, one business executive told me, “I tell my employees, ‘If you ever finish, you’re finished.’” 

That perhaps is one reason why many people struggle with the work of Jesus Christ.  He finished something (John 17:4; 19:30).  He really finished it.  He paid a debt once and for all.  There is nothing we can add to this masterpiece of work on our behalf.  There has never been a time when that work was outdated and needed to be supplemented of updated like a software version 3.1.  The rub, however, is that most of us have not experienced anything like that before.  We don’t usually finish anything.  So it is difficult to allow God to claim to be finished with anything either.  People add layer upon layer of necessary requirements and duties to attempt to solidify, improve, confirm or validate what Jesus did. 

Certainly I am not saying that there are no more rigors, better discipline or room for improvement.  There is much room for improvement.  That is all well and good.  It is good to add these things (2 Peter 1:5-8).  Yet, we must remember that they do not improve or add to the finished work of Jesus Christ.  They improve or add to our personal maturity, self-awareness, understanding of faith and fruitfulness.  However, they do not add an inch toward additional benefits in heaven, increased access to God in this life, or suitability for receiving his grace.  If they did, then grace and mercy would not be grace and mercy. 

The idea of something being finished feels funny to most of us.  We say things that demonstrate our discomfort.  Things like, “there is always room for improvement.”  “We must always strive for more.”  And, “life is filled with challenges that shape us.”  While these are all true, they do not invalidate a deeper and more profound truth that makes these improvements possible and challenges beneficial- Christ finished his work which makes improvement and heaven and abundant living possible.  You and I cannot work hard enough to increase God’s effectiveness in Christ’s sacrifice.  We cannot add an elixir or program that will strengthen or weaken his work.  He finished something, once and for all (Hebrews 10:10). 

So, live like someone finished something and that you benefit from that will never perish, spoil or fade (1 Peter 1:4).  Don’t focus so much on the personal challenges and accomplishments that we forget that growth and improvement is possible because of what Jesus did.  When he said, “It is finished” and hung his head and died, he meant it.  Don’t get hung up on what is yet to be completed.  Know that eternity is certain for those who by faith believe the work was done. 

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[AJF 12]

Might you might have good enough happiness for making you sweet, an adequate amount of trials to produce you robust, plenty of sorrow to continue to keep you human, plenty hope for making you glad.