God Finished His Work

Courtesy http://www.justforloveblog.com   

God Finished His Work

The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me. (Psalm 138:8)

He who has begun will carry on the work which is being wrought within my soul. The Lord is concerned about everything that concerns me. All that is now good, but not perfect, the Lord will watch over, preserve, and carry out to completion. This is a great comfort. I could not perfect the work of grace myself. Of that I am quite sure, for I fail every day and have only held on so long as I have because the Lord has helped me. If the Lord were to leave me, all my past experience would go for nothing, and I should perish from the way. But the Lord will continue to bless me. He will perfect my faith, my love, my character, my lifework. He will do this because He has begun a work in me. He gave me the concern I feel, and, in a measure, He has fulfilled my gracious aspirations, He never leaves a work unfinished; this would not be for His glory, nor would it be like Him. He knows how to accomplish His gracious design, and though my own evil nature and the world and the devil all conspire to hinder Him, I do not doubt His promise. He will perfect that which concerneth me, and I will praise Him forever. Lord, let Thy gracious work make some advance this day!

-Charles H. Spurgeon

~Courtesy of http://www.spurgeon.org (Thank you Phil Johnson!)

1 - In The Beginning

Year: 1977. I must have been about 6 or 7 years old. My parents didn't go to church anymore as they did years ago as teenagers. Church was something we didn't talk about much at home. My sister, Bonita, who is three years older than me, somehow developed an interest in God and in church. She began to visit the Church of Christ, which was, I believe, a modalist fundamental church that was located only about a block away from our home. Sis seemed to be having fun when she went, but more than that, I saw a strong desire in her eyes. Perhaps it was more of a curiosity to find out more about God. She began to talk a lot about him. She relayed to me bits of important spiritual information that I just could not comprehend with my young mind, which was mostly occupied by Darth Vader, The Muppets and my new bicycle. I remember her inviting me church and me tagging along with her. I was very shy when I was little, and was scared to death to be around people I didn't know, but my need to find out what the big deal was proved even stronger that my timidity. I remember going to the kids' meetings and taking part in projects like hobby craft - pasting noodles to a paper plate, spelling out "Jesus loves you" or something. We continued to attend now and again and I remember as a highlight receive some kind of patch for completed some project in the children's class. I was really excited, and couldn't wait to get home and tell my parents. When I got home, my dad was still at work, of course. My mom stood in the kitchen cooking something up. She listened to me and just said, "That's nice, mijo". I could feel that something bothered her about us kids going to church...