Friday, January 11; Endurance

(B)eing confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:6 NIV)

I was living in Vancouver at that time. My three friends and I started out for a hiking and camping trip with a map of the hills and mountains somewhere near Kamloops, British Columbia. I bought my first pair of hiking boots and I borrowed a back pack. We had come together to plan this trip around a meal. One friend brought out a map of the area to show us where we were going and where we would end up.

So, we started out on this journey in one car. We parked our car at a park and proceeded to follow what was indicated in the map. However, as time went on, we found ourselves walking up and down some hills but somehow never reaching the destination we thought we set out for. We were lost. We were wondering if this hiking would ever end. We set up tent for two nights but never did go the full week we set out to do. We were grateful to somehow get back to our car. If I remember, we back tracked to where we left our car.

After this failed hiking trip, we checked our map. We realised that our friend had taken an outdated map from wherever she got the map. This map did not feature the new trails that were developed in recent times. We followed our map thinking that it would lead us to where we were heading. However, the trail we were on had been abandoned previously and a new trail placed to substitute it. We did not reach our final destination. We were not sure of our journey.

Paul is in prison as he writes these words to the church at Philippi. (B)eing confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:6 NIV) Paul is sure of his road map for the future. Paul also shares that the Philippians have the right road map for their future. They have the Old Testament and other letters from Peter and Paul to guide them on their journey.

Paul does not know how his life will end. Will he be executed while he is in prison? Yet, Paul is confident of the end of his life journey and the future of Christians at Philippi. He knows that God who has begun a good work in them will continue his work in them until the day of Jesus Christ. He knows that he and the Philippians have set out on a journey and the know the end of the journey.

Paul might be worried about the disunity and disagreements that are present in the Philippian church at that moment. He does not know how these problems can be solved. Yet, he knows that at the end, there is a God who will carry them through their present trials and will complete his work in them on that final day when Jesus comes again.

Paul’s words are still relevant to us today. Many of us have a lot of unanswered questions when it comes to life at the moment. However, we have this inner assurance, that God holds the future and will make sure that his work in us will be completed when Jesus comes again. Hang on.

Pastor Pye