The Finished Work
To say that God tests us is to paint a picture of a schizophrenic God. On the one hand He desires that we have abundant life, full of all grace, exceedingly abundantly more than we can ask or think, pressed down, shaken together and running over, with access to all the promises of God that we might escape the corruption in the world, while at the same time some believe He is “allowing” or sending sickness, tragedy or whatever into our lives to test that which is already finished and complete. That makes no sense.
Until the born-again believer sees himself or herself as God sees them, they will always be living from the wrong side of the cross. We must understand that we are complete in Him (Col. 2:10), seated with Him (Eph. 2:26), a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17), the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor. 5:21), one spirit with Him (1 Cor. 6:17), washed, sanctified and justified (1 Cor. 6:11), and glorified (Rom. 8:30).
That must be the starting point for the discipleship of any believer. That work is complete and finished in Him. What remains is the renewing of the mind to these truths and the expression of these truths in our lives.
In the story of the two men, two houses, two foundations and one storm, (Matthew 7:24-27) God didn’t send the storm. He sent the Word, and the doer of the Word was spared the consequences that the lazy believer suffered. Too many Christians think that the storms are from God to teach them something. They aren’t. The Word and the Spirit are from God to prepare us to overcome the storms of life.
Many Christians are striving for what God has already given. Those who understand the new creation can rest in the finished work and live their lives from a place of victory. The expression of Jesus through us is progressive and it will mature, but we are not a work in progress spiritually. You are not a “work in progress” but rather your life is the “progress of the finished work.”
We are not little Jobs, fearful, ignorant and without a covenant. We have been blessed with all blessings!
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, (Eph. 1:3)
A Mouse in a Maze 