One Trait at a Time: Trusting God to Finish What He Started

Wisdom Scripture

Colossians 1:28 (NIV)

He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ.

Wisdom Quote

The Genesis 3 passage and others present a negative view of wisdom as an aspect of human pride. People seek wisdom and knowledge not in God but instead of God (Jer. 8:9). As with other examples of prideful resistance to God, this so-called wisdom will fall short and be thwarted by God himself (Isa. 29:14; Job 5:12–13). Paul repeatedly emphasizes the superiority of the wisdom of God over human wisdom in 1 Corinthians 1–3 (1 Cor. 1:26–31; 2:1–16; 3:18–20).[1]

[1] Nettelhorst, R. P. “Wisdom.” Ed. Douglas Mangum et al. Lexham Theological Wordbook. 2014. Lexham Bible Reference Series.

Trust in God to Complete His Work

Read Paul’s careful words to the believers in Philippi slowly:

“Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose” (Phil. 2:12–13).

To “work out” your salvation means to carry it out—to live it out fully. Paul did not say that you must work to earn your salvation. Salvation, your justification before God, is solely a work of God’s grace, not a result of your effort. God saves you by his grace, which you receive through faith in Jesus Christ (Gal. 2:16). Yet God commands saved people to work out their salvation.

Your confidence and power come from God. You work out your salvation because God works in you. Some people struggle with what they see as an apparent contradiction: you work out your salvation, yet it is God who is at work within you.

Notice that Paul does not present these ideas as if they are in conflict. Instead, he connects them with the word for. We can confidently work out our salvation because we have the assurance that God is at work in us. Notice the parallel truth in Philippians 1:6:

“Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

God will complete his work in you. Without God’s work within you, you would have no hope of changing your character. Because God is at work in you, you can be confident that you will mature. God’s work in you compels your wholehearted effort.

Trust in God to complete the work he has begun in you. Depend on his power, cooperate with his Spirit, and confidently pursue Christlikeness, knowing that he will faithfully finish what he started.