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"And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ" —Philippians 1:6, ESV


On the day God's love overtook your heart and you understood what Christ's work on the cross accomplished you became a work in progress—incomplete. Like an unfinished canvas we are transformed as new layers nuance the picture of promise and we grow to reflect the glory of the Lord

“God, by his unrivaled, infinite power, will one day remedy everything wrong about you” —Marshall Segal, Desiring God

This "work" involves a reconfiguring and restructuring of the heart, an internal continuous change designed to open our hearts to hear the Holy Spirirt. It is convicting, challenging, revealing, and joyous. It creates in us a desire to stand in Christ, clothed in His grace instead of in our selfcenteredness; a willingness to love others above ourselves in an authentic way that sets us apart and makes us unique in such a way that non believers want to know the reason and be included.

"...[We] want to be in that place where we understand we have sinned and that we have messed things up and that God by His grace has entered into our lives and changed us and given us new life and we're a different kind of people" —Bob Burris, "What's a Failure Like Me Suppposed to Do?"

The continual "progress" is honed as we learn how to read the Bible, meditate on scripture to better understand God's Word, pray, trust in the Lord, and know He is working for our good even when things are ugly or bleak and suffering is involved. We also experience growth as believers when we immerse ourselves in the Church  —the community of believers. Our love for our brothers and sisters grows as we listen and get to know them. It is easier to judge, grumble, complain, and gossip about those we have no deep feeling for and to gloss over the sinfulness of whining and griping.

“Judging others makes us blind, whereas love is illuminating. By judging others we blind ourselves to our own evil and to the grace which others are just as entitled to as we are” —Dietrich Bonhoeffer

As we become more rooted in Christ, active and invested in our Church, loving and serving our Church family; we experience a sense of belonging and love. It is there we are better able to understand our faith and develop a true sense of who God is so we can love others enough to share.

The following article by Marshall Segal explores the all encompassing, heart changing, bring you to your knees love for the Lord:

True love, effective love, world-changing love is an enlightened love, a love sharpened with and filled by truth. You can’t love like God loves unless your mind is engaged rightly. Good loving requires good, right thinking. And this love — an affection for others grounded in and stirred by the truth — is what God builds into our hearts as he works to complete us. It’s the heavy reconstruction our hearts need in order to meet him on the last day...

Finish reading here: Love That Will Complete You | Desiring God