Philippians 1:6 English Standard Version (ESV) 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.

Completion is for another day, not today. Is this the completion of our new creature in Christ or is it the work we do in service to God?

What we see in scripture can often be confused by how we feel about ourselves. We all want to attain that perfected state, knowing in our hearts that we are not there yet. We must guard our hearts so that our past does not taint our service.

If we focus on what God is calling us to do rather than how we feel about ourselves we will find it is easier to serve God faithfully. Negative thoughts and feelings are nothing more than Satan trying to drag us down and stop the work of the gospel of Christ.

When others say “get over yourself” it is not always about ego. Sometimes it is our negative speech that hints at a deep seated problem with knowing who we are in Christ. A wise pastor once said to me “you keep shooting yourself in the foot”. What I was saying was hindering my walk with Christ. He put it in a way I could understand.

What we do to ourselves that is not in line with how God loves us hinders how we see His love towards us. God can love the imperfect because He knows the end result of the love, mercy and grace that He pores into our lives.

Our impatience only gets in the way. “I want it and I want it now.” That does not move us forward towards the finish line.

The older I get the closer the finish line appears in front of me. There is so much more to be done in service to God and if I rush to finish the race I am not looking at what God is doing at the moment. How I see and what I feel in the moment is not as important as what God is doing.