IDENTITY IN CHRIST: We Are Unfinished
We are unfinished. This means that although we are justified already, we are still not yet justified. Although we are adopted already, we are still not yet adopted. Although we are citizens of Heaven already, we are not yet citizens of Heaven. Confused? Tune in to this episode and it will become much clearer!
Have you ever worked on something that has taken a really long time? A big lego build, or a school project? Think of something that might have a few tricky things to do, as that’s normally where we get stuck and give up.
Today’s episode is about being unfinished. It is the last one from our IDENTITY IN CHRIST series.
Is there anything that you have made that you never finished? I had an unfinished bag in pieces under my bed for about a year!
What do you think?
Choose one, A or B:
Has God A) redeemed you already and taken away all your sins now, or B) will you be redeemed when you die and get to Heaven?
Has God A) adopted you already or B) will you be adopted as his child when you die?
Are we A) citizens of Heaven already/Does the Kingdom of Heaven exist already or B) will the Kingdom be established in the end times/will we be citizens of Heaven in the end? (There’s an episode about the end times here.)
If you said A then you are correct, because each episode I have explained these things.
But it is also B. It is both!
We are:
already adopted in Christ (Romans 8:15), but not yet adopted (Romans 8:23 - The Spirit makes us sure about what we will be in the future. But now we groan silently, while we wait for God to show that we are his children.);
already redeemed in Christ (Ephesians 1:7), but not yet redeemed (Ephesians 4:30 - Don’t make God’s Spirit sad. The Spirit makes you sure that someday you will be free from your sins.);
Already a citizen of heaven, But not yet, as The Kingdom of heaven is not yet here, “The kingdom of heaven will soon be here.” Matthew 3:2)
Story Time!
Lucy is 11 and she loves Netflix. She has a set amount of time she is allowed to watch it and she really wants to respect my boundaries but she gets wrapped up in the show she is watching and it draws her to her iPad when she isn’t allowed to use it. Every time I catch her watching Netflix and chat with her about it she is repentance. She is genuinely devastated that she has done it.
It is hard. We all have an internal battle going on in our minds. Even Paul says in Romans 7:19 “For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing."
God has finished the work in us, getting us ready for Heaven, by having Jesus die on the cross for our sins. So why are we still unfinished? Why hasn’t it all happened yet?
We are living in the in between times. It’s the beginning of the end times. Jesus has come but we haven’t all gone up to Heaven yet. God’s Kingdom
Any expert will never say they are finished. Their skills can always be honed and improved, no matter how good they are. They will never say that they are perfect.
God WILL say that we are perfect. Right now we are Being Perfected. We are in the process of getting perfect. But we are also, right now Perfect. We are complete. We are both finished and unfinished at the same time.
Question Time!
Was there anything that I said in today’s episode that doesn’t make sense or you struggle to understand? What was it?
How do you feel when you hear that you are both finished and complete but also unfinished?
Do you remember the memory verse from last episode? It's Ephesians 3:17 "Christ will live in your hearts because of your faith."
