When will this ever end?

And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. (Philippians 1:6 NLT)

Have you ever just sat down, kind of defeated because you 'gave in', and wondered when or if God would ever be finished 'sanctifying' your life? You return to an old way of acting, engage in a display of hurtful behavior, or just plain don't do what you knew was the right thing to do - then you just wallow in the 'when will this ever be different in me' kind of questioning. Take heart, dear ones, for God will CONTINUE his work UNTIL it is finally finished - but you can count on that to continue until he returns! We don't change overnight, although the work begins. We aren't transformed with a magic wand, but we do have supernatural power resident within us. We won't have our desires instantly changed, but we do sense there has been a shift in those desires. That is God at work - continually, faithfully, and without us even realizing he is at work most of the time.

He began it - he will finish it. He initiates - we respond. He creates anew - we forsake the old. It will require a certain amount of effort on our part - but he remains in control of the work of changing our hearts, minds, and souls. We just obediently follow his instructions - he sets about changing whatever needs adjustment or just plain old forsaking in our lives. Sometimes he will ask us to lay something down, giving it up entirely. At others, he will show us how he wants to transform that area of our lives where we struggle, using that struggle as a means to bring about growth and testimony in our lives. We'd all like the simplicity of him just waving a magic wand and things being different, but we can forget about that. We will go through a struggle of our will against his from time to time. We will know what to do and choose, in the moment, to either do as he has shown us or go our own way. 

The choices will remain - the choosing may be what changes over the course of time. We will always have the ability to sin - but we may not choose the sin because we value something more than that momentary thrill sin gives. We choose God's path instead of our own because he is at work in us and our choices are changing. It is a continual change that is occurring - not a momentary change. It is us being faced with those choices repeatedly, choosing wisely most of the time, but probably enduring some sort of 'slip up' on occasion. There is grace when we do! Grace doesn't give us license to sin, but it certainly brings us hope and restoration whenever we do. We won't get this walk with Jesus 'right' 100% of the time, but we may notice we draw closer and closer to that 100% mark as time goes on. That is because he has been at work in us, doing within us what we didn't even realize was occurring. One day, when he returns, that work will be 'final'. Until then, we can just lean in, learn from our mistakes, and listen to his voice as closely as we possibly can. Just sayin!