Still Being Built
Ephesians 2:10 · Philippians 1:6 (NIV)
In Mineral Wells, Texas, a man named Dale has been building a boat in his front yard since 1987. He is 86 years old now. The boat is 62 feet long, made of welded steel, with four staterooms. Good News Network reported on October 21 that it is about 75 percent complete. Dale started it with a dream of sailing to Alaska.
At his age, he can no longer finish it alone. A steep hill sits between the boat and the road, so moving it will take heavy machinery.
Then three visitors from England stopped by without warning. One of them, Laurence Benson, makes online videos and has millions of followers. He came with two friends, Benjie and Will. Dale climbed a ladder to show them the deck, something he had not done in years. His enthusiasm for the boat was still there.
Benson started an online fundraiser to finish the work and move the boat. By the October 21 report, more than 1,500 people had given over $41,000. The organizer says the first stage will require $50,000, with final costs still being confirmed. Dale hopes to see her on the water.
Nearly forty years is a long time to look at something unfinished.
Many of us know that feeling about our own lives. We see the rust spots and the missing rails. We see what is still not done. It is easy to measure our value by what we have finished, how we look, or whether someone approves.
The apostle Paul, an early church leader who wrote much of the New Testament, gives a different measure. Ephesians 2:8-9 says we are saved by grace through faith, as GOD's gift. Our works give us no reason to boast.
Then comes the next line. "For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do" (Ephesians 2:10).
Handiwork. GOD is the builder. HE started the work, and HE planned it before we lifted a finger. Our worth rests on whose hands are on the project.
Paul wrote something similar to believers in Philippi, a city in what is now Greece. He was "confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus" (Philippians 1:6).
Paul is thanking GOD for their partnership in the gospel. His confidence rests in GOD's faithfulness to HIS people through to the day of CHRIST. That promise does not give every personal project a completion date. It gives unfinished people reason to trust the One at work in them.
That can feel slow. Psalms 79 and 80 carry the name of Asaph, associated with a long tradition of temple singers. Psalm 79 speaks from the rubble of Jerusalem. Both psalms voice a people's grief and ask the hard question. "How long, Lord?" (Psalm 79:5). "How long, Lord God Almighty" (Psalm 80:4).
These worshipers asked for mercy because they needed it. "May your mercy come quickly to meet us, for we are in desperate need" (Psalm 79:8). Psalm 80 returns three times to a plea for restoration, with the address to GOD growing fuller. It begins, "Restore us, O God; make your face shine on us, that we may be saved" (Psalm 80:3).
David, the shepherd who became king, wrote about that same care in Psalm 23. In the New International Version, he says, "he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name's sake" (Psalm 23:3). GOD does this work for the sake of HIS own name, whatever our record looks like.
A bishop named Irenaeus led the church in Lyon, in what is now France, around AD 180. In Against Heresies, Book IV, chapter 4, he argues that the passing of an earlier stage in history does not diminish GOD's power. He writes, "For God does all things by measure and in order." His point concerns GOD's larger purpose through changing times.
That is good news for anyone who feels three-quarters done. Our deadlines do not rush GOD, and our rust does not discourage HIM. Our hope rests in HIS faithfulness, even while we wait.
The apostle Peter, one of the first followers of JESUS, wrote to believers who felt like outsiders. He told them who they are. "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession" (1 Peter 2:9). Then he reminded them of the mercy they had received. "Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy" (1 Peter 2:10).
Mercy came first. Our worth comes from the One who chose us, made us, and is still at work.
Dale cannot finish his boat alone. Strangers showed up, and more than a thousand people chipped in. We cannot finish ourselves either, and GOD never asked us to. HE began the work, and HE has promised to complete it.
It does leave me thinking about the unfinished parts of my own life, and how often I forget whose handiwork they are.
I am not here to prove myself. I am here to make HIM visible.
🙏 To the one who feels unfinished, you are GOD's handiwork, created in CHRIST for good works.
🙏 To the one who asks again and again "how long," you can bring that question to GOD.
🙏 To the one who measures worth by achievement, grace came before any of it.
🙏 To the one who has waited years for something to be done, GOD's care reaches beyond the deadlines you can see.
Grace and Peace.