Have you ever driven past a half-built bridge that seems to have been sitting there for years? Or noticed houses in your neighborhood with construction that appears stalled—materials sitting idle, projects seemingly abandoned? There’s something unsettling about unfinished things. They leave us wondering: Will this ever be completed? Has someone given up?
Perhaps your life feels like one of those unfinished projects right now.
The Weight of Unfinished Business
As we stand on the threshold of a new year, many of us carry the weight of incomplete dreams, stalled plans, and unanswered prayers. We look back at the year behind us and wonder why certain doors never opened, why some relationships never healed, why that calling we felt so certain about seems to have gone nowhere.
The silence can be deafening. The waiting can feel endless. And in those quiet moments, doubt creeps in with its persistent questions: Did I miss God’s plan? Did I make too many wrong choices? Has He given up on me?
A Promise Written From Prison
The Apostle Paul understood something profound about God’s faithfulness, and he wrote about it from the most unlikely place—a prison cell. Imagine being locked away, your ministry seemingly halted, your freedom stripped away. Yet from that dark place, Paul penned these powerful words in Philippians 1:6:
“I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion.”
Read that again slowly. Paul wasn’t writing from a comfortable couch after a successful ministry tour. He was writing from chains, from confinement, from what appeared to be a complete derailment of God’s purposes. Yet his confidence wasn’t shaken. Why? Because his confidence wasn’t in his circumstances—it was in God.
You Are the Good Work
Here’s a truth that might change your perspective today: You are the good work God started.
Not your job. Not your ministry. Not your family situation or your bank account or your reputation. You. You are the masterpiece in progress, the clay on the potter’s wheel, the project God is committed to completing.
And here’s the remarkable thing about God as a craftsman: He knew exactly what He was getting into when He started working on you. He wasn’t surprised by your mistakes. He didn’t say “oops” when you took that wrong turn. He didn’t have to adjust His plans when you spent years wandering in the wilderness of addiction, rebellion, or doubt.
God has never once said, “I didn’t see that coming.”
The Potter’s Persistent Hands
In Bethlehem, there’s a village where potters still work the ancient way—spinning wheels, wet clay, skilled hands shaping vessels. A master potter was once observed creating a beautiful vase when suddenly one side began to droop. Without hesitation, he pressed the entire piece back down into a ball and started over.
But notice—he didn’t throw the clay away. He didn’t abandon the project. He simply reshaped it, remolded it, and began again.
The Bible calls us clay in the Potter’s hands. Maybe what feels like crushing pressure right now is actually God reshaping you. Perhaps that disappointment, that closed door, that painful season wasn’t the end of His plan—it was part of the process of forming you into something even more beautiful than you imagined.
The Punch List Phase
In construction, there’s a phase called the “punch list”—that period after all the major work is done when crews go through and handle the small details. Touch-up paint. Minor adjustments. Final inspections. It’s not glamorous. It’s not exciting. There are no dramatic transformations happening. But it’s absolutely essential to completing the project.
Maybe you’re in the punch list phase right now.
The big, dramatic movements of God in your life may have quieted down. You’re not seeing the miracles you once saw. The passion that used to burn bright feels like it’s dimmed to embers. But don’t mistake the quiet for abandonment. God is still working. He’s just working on the details now—the character refinements, the subtle shifts, the internal transformations that don’t make for exciting stories but are crucial for what comes next.
Pruning Isn’t Punishment
Rose bushes that are left unpruned become wild, overgrown, and eventually stop producing beautiful blooms. A wise gardener takes shears and cuts back the branches—sometimes drastically. To the untrained eye, it looks like destruction. But the gardener knows that in a few months, the bush will return fuller, healthier, and more beautiful than before.
Sometimes God prunes us. He cuts away things we thought were essential. He removes people, opportunities, or comforts we believed we needed. And it hurts. Pruning always does. But it’s not punishment—it’s preparation. He’s making room for new growth, healthier patterns, and more abundant fruit.
When the Delay Isn’t a Disconnect
We live in an instant culture. We expect immediate responses to our texts, same-day delivery on our purchases, and quick answers to our prayers. So when God seems silent, we assume He’s disconnected. When He doesn’t move on our timeline, we conclude He’s not moving at all.
But sometimes the delay is part of the design.
Behind the scenes, God is working out details you can’t see. He’s arranging circumstances, preparing people, and orchestrating events that will all come together at exactly the right moment. The fact that you can’t see the progress doesn’t mean there isn’t any. It just means you’re not the foreman on this project—He is.
The Partnership Principle
God chose to work in partnership with us, not as a dictator barking orders. He invites us into relationship, gives us choices, and allows us to participate in His purposes. But here’s the beautiful part: even when we mess up our side of the partnership, He doesn’t void the contract.
He established a covenant, not a contract. A contract says, “I’ll do my part if you do yours.” A covenant says, “I’m committed regardless of what you do.” That’s the kind of God we serve—one who remains faithful even when we’re faithless, who keeps His promises even when we break ours.
Confidence for the Coming Year
As a new year begins with all its uncertainty, where will you place your confidence? In your job security? Your health? Your relationships? Your own ability to figure things out?
Or will you place it where Paul did—in the God who finishes what He starts?
The same God who kept His promise to bring Israel back to their land after centuries of exile is the same God who’s keeping His promises to you. The same God who transformed a murderous Saul into the Apostle Paul can transform your mess into a message. The same God who raised Jesus from the dead can resurrect the dead dreams in your life.
Your story isn’t over. The project isn’t abandoned. The bridge will be completed. The house will be finished.
Because the One who began the good work in you is faithful to complete it—not when you deserve it, not when you’ve earned it, but because that’s who He is.
You are a good work. And God always finishes what He starts.
Thoughts from Pastor Toney 