Let “Finished” Be Your Beginning

Colossians 2:10 (TPT)

And our own completeness is now found in Him.
We are completely filled with God as Christ’s fullness
Overflows within us. He is the Head of every kingdom and authority
In the universe.

 Someone once said that the reason more people don’t go to church is because they have already gone. People who don’t attend church as a part of their lives are looking for something and obviously not finding it. A well-known minister of the gospel recently shared a message that sheds light on a possible reason. It is found in the traditional presentation of the gospel.

Religion says the starting point in a relationship with Jesus is to receive Him as Savior and Lord and follow Him. As we start our journey we are told to love Him. In doing those things we will find peace and that will open the door to a finished place of being secure in God’s love for us. This minister says religion has the process backwards.

He points out a progression of what our walk with the Lord should take that is found in the book of John. He notes four scriptures that when taken together form a beautiful picture of what our relationship should be once we give our lives to Jesus. They are:

• John 19:30, where Jesus cried out “It is finished!”
• John 20:19, where after His resurrection Jesus appeared to the disciples and said, “Peace be with you.”
• John 21:15-27, where Jesus repeatedly asks Peter, “Do you love me?”
• John 21:22, where Jesus says, “Follow me.”

The pattern seen from these scriptures is this: Our relationship with Jesus begins when we accept His finished work of the Cross. At that point as Colossians 2:10 says, we are “completely filled with God” through Christ living within us. As a result, we are positioned to receive His peace. At that point we are capable of truly loving Him. Finally, after these things are in place, we truly desire to follow Him.

This is the true “gospel of GRACE;” the message of a God so good and with a love so great for His creation that He did EVERYTHING for us to bring us back into a relationship with Him.  When Jesus cried “It is finished!” all of God’s goodness and all of His love became ours simply for the asking… of Jesus to come into our lives as Savior and Lord.

 The problem with religion’s approach to a relationship with Jesus is that it keeps the focus on what we do. The gospel of GRACE puts the focus on Jesus and what He has already done. What this means for us is this: Jesus’ ceiling becomes our floor. We get to start out at His level not ours; spiritually complete, experientially, always learning more. As we recognize that truth, the peace, the love and the desire to follow Him comes to us in abundance!

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