Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. – Philippians 1:6
The supplies for working on my embroidered sack cloth dishtowel were purchased and ready for use. There were specific steps to follow to complete the project: first, the pattern needed to be cut out and pinned to the dishtowel; second, it would be ironed and inserted into an embroidery hoop; and finally, a needle would be threaded and the stitching would begin. When finished, I would have a lovely dishtowel to hang in my kitchen.
That was my plan, but that was not what happened. With the first steps completed, I began on the stitching. Then time passed as I worked on the embroidery, and eventually I lost interest and laid it aside. Days and weeks went by, and my project lay dormant. It was a half-finished project, not the attractive towel I had planned for my kitchen.
Dormancy is a problem that can also take place in our spiritual lives if we do not allow the Lord to work in our hearts as He would like. The Bible tells us that He is the Potter and we are the clay; He wants to mold us into what He would have us be. There are specific steps to follow: first salvation to forgive the sins we have committed; then sanctification to remove the nature of sin from our hearts; and then, the baptism of the Holy Ghost, which is power to be used by God. These are the basic experiences that God intends for us all to have, and beyond that is more learning and growing as a Christian. If we lose interest in our spiritual growth before that work is finished, we are like an incomplete craft project—full of unrealized potential.
For God to finish the work in our hearts, we must make ourselves available to Him. We do this by choosing to read His Word and meditate upon it, and seeking His face in prayer. Then we will see the Holy Spirit teaching us to live the way God wants us to live, and as we follow His instructions, He will give us our deeper experiences and help us progress in our spiritual lives. And unlike a craft, God’s work will continue throughout our lives. He wants to refine our hearts more and more, “until the day of Christ.”
If our spiritual lives have been dormant for a while, God is ready to resume the work. Let us seek His face and allow Him to perform His handiwork in us. We can expect to see great results.