One of the things we struggle with understanding after we are converted, or saved, or whatever term you use to talk about making the decision to follow Jesus is this – what next?  What happens after conversion.

So often churches focus so much on getting someone to make that decision to follow Jesus, that we do not give appropriate focus on what exactly it means to follow Him.  What are we to do after we are saved?  What are we to do after we make that decision?  What Paul tells us today in Philippians 1: 3-6 may actually surprise us:

3 I thank my God every time I remember you, 4constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you, 5because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until now. 6I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ.

I love what he says in verse 6 – He who began a good work in you will finish it.  What that means is this, and this is a very powerful thought – we are saved by grace through faith.  We are not saved by anything that we “do” but we are saved by the work of Jesus Christ.  Our response is to accept and believe.  It’s not what we do, it is what He has done.

But notice what Paul says, He who began a good work (God) will bring it to completion.  In other words, God saved us, and God will grow us.  Our job is to believe in faith, and follow wherever it is that God calls us.

But we do not walk in this path on our own strength.  We walk along it by His strength.  So often we look to God to save us, and then we look to ourselves to sanctify (grow us).  We think that God saves and we sanctify.  Growing closer to Go di san act of the will. But that is not what scripture teaches us.  Scripture tells us today that it is God who saves and it is God who sanctifies.

Sanctification is not an act of the will.  It is an act of faith.  It is an act of faith. The one who began a good work in you will complete it.

Today, trust wherever it is that He is leading.  And follow where His grace calls.  He will lead us.  We will follow.  Trust.  He will do the work.  May we follow.  And as we follow, may His grace renew us, may it grow us, and may we be changed, may we be restored, may we be renewed.  May God create something beautiful in our lives.

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