He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. ~ Phil 1:6
I have recently become thoroughly convinced of two things:
1. God loves me just the way I am
2. He does not want me to stay that way
I was reminded of it again last night. At a time when I'm feeling good about myself, and how far I've come in my faith, and how much I've grown, I felt convicted again of all my shortcomings and realized how far I have to go. As I've said before, the closer I get to God, the more I realize how far away from Him I've been.
But there's something unique about the conviction of the Holy Spirit. I have noticed that it is never condemning. The only condemnation I feel is that which I put on myself. Instead, it is a feeling as though "this is a problem area in your life. Going forward, let's make sure to work on it." It's kind of the feeling that I think the adulterous woman felt--where Jesus did not judge her or condemn her, but rather said, "Now go and sin no more" (John 8:11).
I find that when a family member or a friend criticizes me, I tend to get defensive. But when Christ does, I am far from that. That is because the conviction of the Holy Spirit is one that is so personal, so to the point, that there is no arguing about it. Further, it is one thing to be criticized by a imperfect relative. It is another thing to be convicted by a perfect God.
And that's the other thing I've found about God's continual process to transform me: it draws me closer to Him. There is something attractive about being drawn to the utter completeness of Christ. In my incomplete moments, I find myself wanting to draw nearer to Him who is lacking in nothing. He fills me. He completes me.
God does not love me any more now than he did two years ago. But the same cannot be said for me: I love God more today than I ever have. And that is why He continues to work on all of us. It is not that He needs our love; rather, it is because He knows that we need Him, and our lives will never be whole without Him. And by transforming us to become more like His Son, we become closer to the Father--thereby becoming complete.
