God Isn’t Finished with You

Not long ago, I received a valuable shock. I’d completed a novel manuscript and received enthusiastic reactions from beta readers (volunteer test readers). Excited, I considered this manuscript nearly ready for publication. However, as a final precaution, I hired experienced novelist and editor Sharon Hinck to read my story to look for mistakes and offer suggestions. I’m glad I did!

Although Sharon called my young adult story “terrific,” she also found mistakes and a great many passages that could benefit from fine-tuning and additional polish. So, although I had considered this tale ready for publication, the reality was that I needed to squelch my impatience, roll up my sleeves, and get back to work, revising and polishing my story. 

This experience caused me to reflect on the Christian life. After years of following Christ, we might consider ourselves pretty good. We might even be tempted to relax, to set aside our armor and be satisfied with the plateau we’ve reached in the Christian life. But that’s a mistake. 

Even though each of us can probably look back and receive encouragement by seeing how we’ve outgrown past foolish thinking, the truth is that the Christian life is a continual process of maturing spiritually. Of growing closer to God and allowing Him to continue shaping and molding us. Along the way, He might cut unnecessary and distracting things from our life (which can be painful). On the other hand, He sometimes gives us fresh subplots, new character qualities, and improvements we ourselves would never have managed without His editing hand. 

Whether you consider yourself “pretty good,” or whether you realize your flaws and feel discouraged, keep this in mind—God isn’t finished with you. Yield to His shaping hand!

“Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13-14)